Broken Dreams
by ProtoRevelation
Summary: My own speed was now my greatest enemy... What started out as a normal week turns into a nightmare. Sonic must search for mysteries left unsolved, defeat nostalgia turned into darkness, and find his true purpose. Are these journies his last few steps?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

My own speed was now my greatest enemy. With no definite chance in saving her, I told myself I needed to at least know she was there. I tried to go faster. I put enough effort in to make jet fighters jealous. But my efforts were worthless, as my many bruises, scrapes, and burns put up resistance. Not only that, but I was presently running through the dirt and the muck of a downhill slant. It used to be a clean-plated floor, but after the years that have passed, it's been left buried in its own site.

It seemed like I had failed. With all that transpired prior to this event, it seemed like the end. So many screw-ups occurred that I couldn't even count. At this time, a cursed madman, now holding someone I know hostage, was trying to tell me through traps and trials to turn back.

After the pain I had endured, crawling along these roads that should've been left as they used to be, I wasn't going to give in. I did have the feeling of giving up, but I was not going to release it, not then. If I stopped running and turned back, all that I had done up to then would've had no point to it. The lives lost and the choices made would go down in history as nothing. That's why I continued on; if I kept going, I could at least make this journey have a purpose.

At last, I reached the end of the hill. I scanned for a landing zone, and saw a gate. I finally reached my goal. I jumped off the cliff, realizing that I had done this before. I landed, wheezing as my legs burned with the pressure shot through them both. But even as I suffered pain, I saw the controls for the gate, which was no higher than the average door. I started to crawl to the controls, but I soon regained my footing. As I pulled the switch, a voice came through from a speaker beyond the gate.

"Ah, so you finally made it. Strange that you got here faster than I thought, considering all that you have experienced since you've arrived. I suppose you're here to save the girl. Well, there's going to be a bit of saving. Just you wait."

When I heard this, I was confused. He said that he would… help me? I had a feeling it was too good to be true. The day that he helped me gain a victory would be the day I die.

The gate opened a crack, and light already blinded me. As the light contained its energy, I saw the situation at hand… and it was bad.

I was in a room lined with consoles and controls, most likely for things around the base. As I walked to the center console, I looked out the viewing glass to find not one but TWO hostages, each attached to a tether supported by a crane. One was the original hostage, a pink hedgehog by the name of Amy Rose. She was tied up all round the body, and her mouth was taped. The other was actually a group of hostages, supposedly Mobians from Knothole. They were screaming for their lives. I looked down under them to find lava, originally magma harvested from below Mobius's crust, and now changed into the more contained version of lava. It had covered the whole bottom of the pit. Only a fifty foot drop rested between either one of the hostages and their deaths.

I looked back at the controls in front of me. Half of the console itself had withered its hardware away and therefore no longer worked. The only working components on there were for the speaker system and two switches, each pertaining to one of the cranes. I looked around for anything else that was working, but the rest of the consoles hadn't any life left.

Suddenly the madman began using the speaker again.

"Let me explain my doings. Obviously, you knew I'd have the girl. It was the only real way to bring you here. I acquired the other Mobians through secret invasion. While you were off at your other places, I sent out squads of badniks to round these misfits up into this cage. Now for the "twisted plan", as you might say. Amy is attached to one crane. The Mobian group is attached to the other. Those two switches in front of you serve as your choices. One of them lets Amy be dropped off in a safe haven while the Mobians drop to their death. The other lets the Mobians survive while the girl dies. Here's where you choose. I'll be leaving now, considering I've just started a self-destruct sequence that has about… 1:10 seconds remaining. Goodbye, Sonic. Hope to God that you never see me again."

I was in utter shock. I found myself wanting to have given up earlier. The gate shut down behind me. Its control panel malfunctioned, leaving me with no choice but to release one of the hostages.

It wasn't easy, choosing who to live and who to die. I knew that I could begin thinking thoughts of suicide if I let more people die. But I had to make a choice, even if my entire future was demolished because of it.

As I reached for a switch, I looked over to the Mobians. They looked at me with eyes of despair and cries for help. I could feel their sorrow within me. Then I looked over at Amy. She looked back at me. I could see that she knew what the right choice for me was. It was almost like an instant message. By the look in her eyes, she let me know what the right choice had to be, no matter how bad it would turn out. My hand got closer.

I looked down at my hand and closed my eyes as I gripped with all of my strength onto it, telling myself there was no turning back. Tears began to drip from my eyes. As I began to sob, I felt the urge to speak. Only seconds before I pulled that switch, I said to myself,

"I'm sorry, Amy."


	2. What Used To Be

**Act I/Chapter I: What Used To Be**

It never started like this. Of course, you probably already figured that. If the world was always in chaos, I probably would be in the next star system by now. But, anyways, back to the beginning.

A week ago, things were just swell. The world was full of color and splendor. Everyone had a job to do. Every place was a sight to see and somewhere to be. If you were like Tails or Knuckles, who usually stay put in downtime, working on their craft or sitting in front of a shrine, I'd tell you to really experience every day like it was your last. I say this because I was running that day. Not from badniks or dark forces, but from boredom. I can never stay put very long. I'm always itching for something to do. On that day, I was "jogging", as I call it, through one of my favorite locales, Green Hill.

I remember my first run through this place, never knowing of the little passages and areas around it. I guess I was too focused on stopping Ro-butt-nik to see them. Then, sometime after that journey, I knew that place like the back of my hand. Some days, I stood on top of the biggest loop-de-loop there and looked at the view. All the twists, turns, trees, and sky were all mine to view. It was almost like my own playground, free for use.

While traversing the terrain, I heard a beeping next to me. I looked to see my wrist communicator ringing. I opened the call.

"Sonic here," I answered.

"Sonic?" the voice responded, "It's Tails."

"Hey, little bro! What's on your mind?"

"I've just been crafting a new contraption of mine. You?"

"Just going for an afternoon 'stroll',"

"We all know how fast those go by,"

"No kidding,"

"Want to stop by to check my invention out? I think you'll be impressed."

"Sure, little dude. I'm already there."

And I was. I wish it wasn't so fast, because my turbulence carried onward through the front door, making papers fly across the room. As the chaos rested, I saw Tails, covered with papers and eyes squinting at me.

"Sorry," I said awkwardly.

It had been a little while since I had viewed Tails's workshop, so I had to take in my surroundings once again. The first floor had a flipped upside-down "L" shape to it. In the first hallway, a table stand sat on the left wall. I saw that it was covered with dust in some areas (papers probably covered the other parts). Further on, a table-top sat against the far wall. Two chairs sat on either side. On the right wall, a gate filled it in. I remember that it led to Tails's many aircrafts. On the left hall, a refrigerator and kitchen counter lay. Tails wasn't much of a cook, but he always had places for food that could be easily-made. To the left of the fridge, a door was held by its rusty hinges. It led to the upstairs floor.

Up there, Tails's room existed. Once the stairs had been walked over, large sliding-glass door sat on the front wall, revealing a view of the east coast of South Island. Look to your left and you'll find his dresser set up in the corner. More to the left wall, a nightstand, bed, and lamp were set up from left to right. It seemed cozy enough.

Across from the bed was a computer, made up of five monitors, two on each side and the last big one in the middle. The keyboard was laid out as any keyboard would be. QWERTY style, of course. Tails's chair in front of it was comfy as can be. It was a nice leather chiar, one you'd most likely see in an office of some sort. The oversized laptop stood from the floor to the ceiling. It would probably be the first thing you'd see before the sight from its anterior.

The view from Tails's balcony was a sight to be seen. The workshop itself stood before a cliff, nearing the edge. Below that was a deep ocean abyss. Now, while I despised water in all its inequities, I could at least see its beauty when not presently in it. But aside from that, the view was spectacular, as I recall.

With the tour done, I returned my attention to Tails, who had now wiped himself clean of the many papers that splattered against him during my arrival. Standing from his chair, he grasped a contraption within his hand, most likely his invention. He shoke his head to become more alert of his surroundings, then, with a straight face, said,

"When you said you'd be right here…"

"My bad, bro," I replied, "I thought you'd remember that my speed can play a factor in that."

"Well, it's no wonder I haven't let you in here more recently."

"Look, little bro, I didn't want to propel the Tornado-II through the wall. How was I to expect-!"

"I know you didn't mean to. But it still cost me a few hundred dollars to repair. That doesn't come cheap. And I also lost another plane. I can't just pull inventions out of my pocket, you know."

"Speaking of which, what is it you called me here for?"

"Ah, I was gonna get to that."

He led me through the left hall and up the stairs. At this point I noticed that the stairs were getting squeaky, probably of old age. Once we got up, he went out to the balcony, me along with him.

As he rounded the corner, I saw another one of his Robo-Dummies. These are (purposely) poorly-made models of Robotnik. Tails once told me, "You can't literally practice with your enemy, but it's good to have an image of your opponent beforehand." Honestly, that dummy almost looked spot-on to Ro-butt-nik himself.

"I've had this idea for a couple months," my little bro explained to me, "but I could never execute it on paper correctly. Even when the blueprints became full-fledged prototypes, there were still bugs. But now, I think I've got it. You see, this invention is supposed to puncture robotic armor of any type using ultrasonic waves. As you can see, this dummy has armor placed over its head, torso, arms, and legs.

"On my first couple attempts, this doohickey of mine hit the target and all other cybernetic-plated objects within its range. Now, after a couple weeks of revisions, I've been able to have it shoot the wave at an isolated target. When I say isolated, I mean more of the desired target, not one that's not in a group. Look, check this out."

The young fox held the ray at the ready. At this moment, I took a look at its shape. Imagine a flat trapezoid, bottom facing the right, with a rectangle attached to its right. Put three small, spaced-out squares along the right side of it. The trigger was at the upper-left angle of the trapezoid, with a thick circular outline around it. Take this into the third dimension, color it with teal and orange, and you have Tails's invention, down to the simplest of details.

Tails grasped the handle and bottom of the ray, to retain balance and be at the ready. He aimed it directly at the torso area of the dummy. With his eyes still opened, he pulled the trigger.

A massive wave shot from the three digits at the ray's front, expanding as it traversed the air. As it neared the target, the plating began to spark and dismantle itself, bit by bit. The moment it made contact with the armor's surface, the armor, without a doubt, tore itself apart. The pieces flew into the nearby wall, descending to the floor seconds after. The dummy itself was fine, but the armor was demolished. This whole process took 2 seconds to carry itself out. I was definitely impressed by the speed at which it accomplished its task.

"Whoa," was all I could say to that.

I mean, think about it. When I took on such husky robotic armors that Robotnik tended to wear, it took me a good minute or so before it was fully demolished. This ray basically beat my record. I hate to admit it, but I was kind of jealous.

"I know, right?" Tails exclaimed. "It's probably one of my better inventions, up top with the Tornado-II."

"Wait," I finally asked, believing I'd found a fault with the invention, "what if there were multiple enemies instead of just the one?"

Tails blinked at me and turned back to his ray. His arm holding the ray dropped. He closed his eyes in embarrassment.

"I guess I didn't think that scenario would return," my bro replied.

I felt sorry for him, but I was secretly inside happy with my pointing out of a flaw.

"Well, that could take some time," Tails said, sulking back to the stairs.

I patted his shoulder.

"Hey," I said, "Just because you forgot to implement a certain part of your idea doesn't mean your entire idea was a failure. You got the ray to fire at its user's desired target. All you have to do is create a layout for multiple targets of the ray and find a way to switch between both mechanisms. It's as simple as that."

Tails looked up, his eyes questioning my statement, and turned to me.

"And you say you're not interested in science," he said to me amused.

"I'm not interested. I'm only spouting random ideas that I've seen in movies."

Tails rolled his eyes. From the looks of things, he seemed to think I had an interest in science. I am entertained by science, but I definitely am not one to pursue such a career. Tails, on the other hand … well, it's obvious.

By this point, we had returned to the lower floor. Tails walked over to the fridge.

"Anything in there I'd like?" I asked.

"First of all," Tails replied, "I don't have 'them'."

I groaned.

"And secondly, you shouldn't be mooching off others. Don't you have your own food?"

"Trust me, Tails," I explained. "When I'm on the go, I'm on the go. I'm a man who doesn't really have a home. I just run 'till I should stop."

"Well, when will you stop?"

Honestly, I didn't know. I wasn't able to create an answer for that. Yes, I ran, but when WOULD I stop? Could I stop when I really want, or would I keep going 'till I die? That question really got me thinking: is this power of incredible really a gift… or is it a curse?

Tails knew I looked like I had been hit by a freight train.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I didn't mean to-."

"No, no," I replied, stumbling through my words repeatedly. "It's fine. I just… remembered something. Um, do you mind… if I leave?"

"It's okay if you're not well. I encourage you to let yourself get better."

"Thanks, Tails. That's why you're my little bro: you're always there for me."

As I left through the door, I heard Tails chuckle at my statement.

Now I had time to think about my actions. It was now high-time to think about one thing that has been extremely critical to my life, but has never been truly answered before: what was my true purpose?

In order to let me concentrate a bit more on myself instead of my environment, I decided to head to a place that deserved a visit. I hadn't actually been there since last spring. Drawing on winter, it would be a sort of calm and empty(ish) place to be.

I chose to go to Central City, the second most important city on South Island.

* * *

><p>Hope that you guys enjoyed the first official chapter of the book. I still haven't an idea how long it will be and even how it will end, but I want to make sure you guys get the most out of it. In other and simpler words, I want your guys' opinion. I'll be asking at least one question in certain chapters throughout the story's progression. For now, answer me these questions:<p>

**1. What other characters do you want to be important & pivotal roles or have cameo appearances (I've already picked the ones I know will be in the main story)?**

**2. What Sonic stages would you like to see reappear in Broken Dreams (I've already picked the ones I know will be in the main story)?**

The votes of those who voted will be tallied up. I'll have an idea of what the range of votes (the amount of votes needed to accept certain options) will be. For now, you can either a) answer the question; b) give me constructive criticism; or c) do both! See you in the next chapter!


	3. How It All Started

**Act I/Chapter II: How It All Started**

Back when I started out, Central City was only starting its construction. People proclaimed that it would be the island's new capital when it was finished. Of course, it got pretty close to being the state capital, because Robotnik tried to attack the real capital's biggest attractions… twice! With the damage done, the people argued over the transfer of capitals and their reception. Honestly, I didn't care what they picked as long there was still a city that represented South Island. Fortunately, the first capital, Westside City, was repaired from its attacks, and so it seemed balanced again.

Now, you might be wondering why I picked Central City over the capital, but I already have the answer. If I went to Westside City, it would have been a bit overcrowded for me to concentrate. Westside was a big tourist attraction, and many tours roamed the streets, pointing out all of the obvious spectacles, such as the Hilltop Hoedown, a sort of wrestling enterprise, and the city's own little mini "Casino Night" nights at the Casino Royale, where a big prize was withheld until a certain amount of money was collected by a person. I'd never gone to that. It's not that I was busy defending the island, but more of that I just didn't see the point in wasting money in order to get something that would do barely anything for me. Tails once told me his uncle tried it once, and he spent over $30,000 on the machines, actually won, and only got a couple hundred bucks back in return. What a rip-off.

Central City, on the other hand, was quite different. First off, it was a bit smaller than Westside, but it suited the island's second best city to be smaller than the capital. Secondly, the space actually complemented all of its own markets of interest, including the Lava Reef Zone, a game store that took the name I'd given to the hottest place literally IN Mobius, and also the Marble Gardens, a plant store that produced different herbs and seeds based around ancient gardens. Most importantly, while the city did get attention, it was in the middle of winter when I went out there to think. People would be bundled up inside, waiting for spring to come. That meant little to no people would be out to badger me with their reactions to even seeing me for a split-second.

Now, with my opinions aside, let me return to the story. As I said before, I headed off to Central City. At this point, I was perched atop a decorative gargoyle overlooking the streets. In reality, I wasn't really "perching" on the gargoyle; I was actually sitting on it while leaning against the one of the skyscraper's four corners. I sat there nonchalantly, with my right leg laid out and the other bent up skyward. My left arm balanced itself across my left leg.

I really started to ask myself why I was the way I was. Why did I run? Why was really fast at running? What was my purpose initially? Who was I to be without my speed? All these questions seemed to, like a desert, lay barren, without one answer in sight. It was as if my mind had finally decided to think for once. This time, I wasn't thinking of a robot's weak point or how save the damsel in distress, but about who I really was.

Suddenly, I heard the beep of my communicator. Without checking, I simply pressed the button to answer it. I answered solemnly,

"Yes?"

"Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Not right now, Tails. I'm trying to-."

"No, seriously, you need to listen."

"I'm already busy-!"

"Listen to me!"

There was a silence. I never did hear Tails yell often. When he did, he sure surprised all the time.

I heard him breathe in.

"I need you to come down here now."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

"Why can't you tell me right now?"

"Because, with your speed, you'll be here, and it'll seem like you didn't need to run."

"What about what you said?"

"Sonic, just drop it, okay? I didn't mean it. Just please hurry on down."

I hung up, once again still staring out at the horizon. The sun was beginning to set. That's when I realized that I had been atop that perch for at least three hours. I had met Tails sometime in the afternoon, so it made since that my thoughts would carry me to the evening. Although this surprised only a bit, I decided to head over to Tails's house.

I peered over the edge of the gargoyle to overlook the pavement and concrete below. I gulped. I had done this risky move once before, but it always gave me shivers down my spine. I closed my eyes to calm myself and let me know that this could hurt.

I rolled off the gargoyle and began to fall down the side of the building. I could feel at least a thousand eyes watching me as I descended through the winds. The ground came closer like a train speeding along its tracks. With control over my body, I began flipping forward slowly. Moments before impact, my legs were bent and my hands were prepared to balance myself. I landed on my feet, hands placed on the ground. I could feel a shockwave fly across the streets. It was a quick fall, so not much energy was sent out. I looked up and saw the street, leading up to the horizon. I moved my extended leg behind me and prepared to move. I looked down, eyes closed, and started running.

It was 10 meters per second, 60 meters per second, 1 mile per second, all before I reached the cliff where Tails's workshop stood. I decided not to run through the door, as that caused complications last time. I walked up the stairs and strolled through the door, closing it behind me.

"You're here," Tails said, as if I only walked there.

"What do you need?" I said, with a sore look over my face.

"Tails looked at me with a fed-up expression.

"Can you just drop it? I only said one-."

"No, you asked something. A question. One that I'm still thinking about."

Tails began to walk up the stairs, his hand only sliding across the rail as he ascended,

"You're gonna take this seriously? Really?"

He scuffed at the surprise.

"Sonic, how can one sentence change your view on life?"

Still ascending the stairs, with my head presently looking down, I peered up at Tails.

I replied, "Because this isn't the life I would have had if I did stop running."

Tails only shook his head in disbelief. He believed that I was overreacting. If I had figured that out earlier, I wouldn't have had this argument. But I did.

Once we reached the second floor, Tails sat at his computer, pulling his chair up as I began to stand by. He started pulling up a list of reports, dated that day.

"I found these only an hour ago," Tails explained, "but I didn't know exactly what to do until only a minute ago."

"What is it of?" I asked.

Tails highlighted the titles of the article. The title read: "Civilian Sniped in Broad Daylight in Westside City". It surprised me. I then began contemplating it.

"Bad, isn't it?" Tails asked.

"Hmm," I replied, "I haven't read a headline like that ever since…"

That's when it clicked in my head. I remained silent for a couple seconds before Tails asked,

"Ever since… what?"

I began to become intent on the subject.

"I have to go."

"Go where?"

"Those headlines… I know the secret behind them."

"What is it?"

I had descended down the stairs already, with Tails following me. I didn't answer.

"What… is it?"

"It's about someone you don't really remember. He's someone who I faced off with several years ago."

"You still haven't given me a name."

I could tell he was become quite stern at this point. Just before I walked out the door, I peered over my shoulder at him and said,

"Let me put it to you this way: He has a "nack" for "weaseling" his way out of any situation. I'm the only one who ahs caught. Now he's back for more."

I closed the door behind me. My communicator beeped, so I opened the call.

"Tails, I just left. You're lonely already?" I said with a chuckle.

However, I didn't get the reaction I expected.

"Hello, Sonic." The voice said, with a cocky, yet sinister tone.

"Who is this I'm speaking to?" I asked, making my way down the steps to the large field in front of Tails's workshop.

"Keep an eye out. You just might find me. Actually, when I'm done, you may not have an eye to really look through now, will you?"

A chill ran across my spine. Someone was watching me… and I had feeling of who it was.

I began to look around the area, at any possible locations this mystery caller could hide. In case I haven't explained this, the cliff of Tails's workshop has a giant canyon running along it only a couple hundred meters away from its site. It stood a god 80 feet high. I tried to jump off of there once. That ended with me nearly choking on water… not exactly a great childhood memory.

I found that no one was really around. Quite peculiar, considering this guy gave the impression of being a close distance from me. In any case, I stuffed that in the back of my mind, and decided that I should search the last place of this sniper's act: Westside City… which was okay, if you remember that my thoughts on the question were pretty much stuffed away as well.

I started my journey to Westside City. It only took me two minutes. The average person, in a car, would get there in half an hour. Quite a difference, eh? I'm not really surprised if you aren't shocked.

Anyways, I had reached Westside City. When I arrived, I stopped in front of the TVs of a department store window. The news was just coming on.

"Welcome back to 'The Mobian Network'," the reporter said enthusiastically, "Wrapping our top story of today, a citizen of Westside City was sniped in broad daylight. The bullet wound, as the reports sent in have told us, was most definitely that of a sniper rifle. However, every attempt so far to find the assassin has had minimal success. Police are still investigating the crime scene, searching for the whereabouts of this mystery attacker. Citizens are advised to remain indoors and remain calm until the police have apprehended the assailant."

I began to turn and walk away, ignoring the rest of the broadcast.

"Well, I'm no average citizen." I mumbled to myself.

I ran across the street and to the top of the closest building. I then looked about to attempt to locate the crime scene.

_If I were an assassin,_ I thought, _where would I take a life?_

As I searched around, I heard a small van, squealing around the corner of the building. Whoever was driving looked like he was trippin'… and not the "running" kind of trippin'.

"Maybe this guy will help me find my answer." I mumbled, preparing myself for a possibly deadly act.

I leaped off the roof, bending my knees to refrain from a tragic impact. The impact of my feet on the van must've sent the driver into hysterics, because he was swerving across the road like no other. That's when I noticed that no cars were around. I guessed that everyone must've listened to the reporter dude. But not me… or the driver.

The driver calmed down after several seconds. He probably thought it was some idiot throwing stuff at him… which I definitely wouldn't blame them for. However, while his driving was smooth from here on out, I could hear shouting in the van, almost as if a group of friends were quarreling over something. It seemed strange to me… until much later.

The van drove through several intersections and arrived at the scene. That's when I figured out the locale. It was just outside of the Casino Royale, that I mentioned earlier. The whole thing was surrounded by a big circular road, splitting off in multiple directions. Doing the math in my head, I found that tonight would've been the date of its weekly "Casino Night". Why the sniper took this man's life at such an area seemed beyond me then.

The van screeched to a stop at a curb, leading up to the casino. I flew over the hood of the van, landing on my forehead. Dazed from the fall, I stumbled my way up, using the front of the van as balance. After several seconds, I came back to my senses.

Suddenly, the van doors either popped or slid open. Individuals began to pile out. From my view, which was basically the ground, I thought that it was at least 10 or so guys. But as I looked up, I not only knew the right number of people, which was three, but who the group of people really was.

I remembered them from a long time ago. They were pretty ludicrous in their methods, but they got the job done. They lost some guys along the way, but the core team still stood even after. They were once hailed as heroes, but now they've been reduced to running a detective agency. However, they've kept the same name throughout their existence. These guys piling out of the van were known as… the Chaotix.


	4. A Nack For Weaseling

**Act I/Chapter III: A Nack For Weaseling**

The Chaotix consisted of four members at this time. They lost a few over the years, but they still held onto the team nonetheless. They were something like brothers, if you took into account that, half of the time, they annoy each other to death.

The first guy was Vector the Crocodile. He counted as the leader of the group… or at least the guy who got the cases for the team. He always had these big noise-cancelling headphones on, as if he didn't want any outside interference to take away the happy place in his mind. He gained some more muscle since the last time he saved the world, which, at the time I'm writing this, was 10 or so years ago. He had more time to weight-lift and run laps, considering detective cases don't come at you nonstop.

The second member was a bit more secluded in peace than the others. His name was Espio the Chameleon. Espio was a ninja to us and a god to his enemies. However, Espio only believed himself to be a "person only making a difference, nothing more". I once was cornered by Badniks with razor blades for eyes and hands, but then Espio swooped in and cut them all in smooth halves. That was the first time I met him. He was like a magician, pulling tricks on his enemies that I still can't figure out.

The third guy, or "kid" I should say, was Charmy Bee. This little guy was taken in by the Chaotix after being freed from one of Robotnik's badniks. He soon became a valuable asset to the team, being their only real flyer and all. I remember the others attempting to fly with Charmy once… I checked on them in the emergency room later that day. But the one thing that lets you know Charmy is around (and he does all the time) is his voice and attitude. He may have been a valuable member of the detective agency, but he always knew how push peoples' buttons. His high-pitched voice, nearly a squeal, and his go-lucky attitude remind me a little of myself as a kid. Well, maybe not the high-pitched voice so much.

The last team player was Mighty the Armadillo, who wasn't with the Chaotix when they came out of the van. Mighty was a good friend of Knuckles, always helping through tough times and acting as his conscience. When Knuckles started the Chaotix, Mighty was its first member. The others joined in, helped defeat Robotnik once again, and then went their separate ways for a year. When they rejoined, Knuckles was off at Angel Island, protecting the Master Emerald. Mighty, Vector, Charmy, and Espio didn't have any real "hero business" to do, so they decided to make a business that would help pass the time until they were needed… which didn't happen (until now).

"Alright, alright," Vector announced obnoxiously, "Stand back! We've got-!"

At this point, Vector realized (again) that no Paparazzi or crowd was present.

"Where is everybody?" Charmy asked.

I stood up straight and answered, "In their houses, away from the sniper's sight."

They all turned to me, but I only got a reaction out of Vector and Charmy. Espio only watched.

"Sonic! What are you doing in Westside?" Vector asked, squeezing me WAY too tight.

"Choking, not breathing," I mustered from my dying lungs.

"Sorry."

After catching my breath, I explained, "I'm here to check out the crime scene near the casino.

"Hey, that's where we're go-!"

"Quiet Charmy!" Vector interrupted.

They certainly were a bunch of characters, weren't they?

"Yeah, uh," Vector attempted to explain, "We were just, uh, going to check the machines at the casino!"

"Vector," I replied, "why are you trying to hide your being a detective? Most people in Westside know you, anyway. Why try to hide from me?"

"Well, it's just, uh-!"

"We're investigating the scene, too." Espio finally said, almost in a monotone voice.

The look on Vector's face was priceless.

"Espio! Why?"

"Has Sonic checking our cases ever stopped us from doing our job or, in your case, getting paid?"

"Well, no… but-!"

"Then what's the harm in letting him see what we're doing?"

I was always impressed with Espio's ability to negotiate. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was pretty nifty. I always felt he would be good as a boss of a business, cracking deals like no one's business. Of course, he has pretty beast ninja skills, so he'd need a job that would let him do that as well.

"Okay," Vector complied, "Well, come along over to the casino."

Vector was the kind of guy who thought he was important, but didn't want others to think he was important. I think he was always clinging to the thought of being widely hailed as a hero, and really thought he was still a hero. I don't blame him. But if you go on a one year hiatus, you will be less and less known. I thought he'd at least know that.

We crossed the street and stood before the casino, where the shooting took place (or at least where the victim was). As I looked around, I saw the white tape body outline, fresh from all the murder mystery shows on TV. Tails eat that stuff up. He expressed himself in all fields of science, but forensics was one of his favorites. There was something about forensics that Tails thought was interesting. Maybe it was the idea of isolating a fingerprint, scanning it, and find out who they belonged to. Interesting stuff, I say.

But I noticed something peculiar about the outline. It looked backside of the head was pulled backwards and pulled down the back of the victim. Its ears seemed like stretched out loops, in terms of height. A blood splatter, only a several inches in area, stood only a foot from the outline.

"Looks like someone forgot to clean up all of the blood," Espio noted, kneeling next to me.

I agreed, but then I noticed Charmy still with the team.

I asked Vector, who was standing on the other side of the outline, "Isn't this a little bit much for the guy? Taking him to a murder scene?"

"Sonic," Vector responded, "do you remember anything about us? Charmy isn't really phased by looking at the crime scenes. Maybe if an actual death took place right in front of him, but looking at the crime scene only doesn't phase him."

I understood his reasoning and digressed from that subject. I still was focused on that blood splatter near the outline. But I had an idea. I asked them,

"Can I make a call?"

Vector said, "Of course!"

"Make it brief." Espio added.

I accessed my communicator and called up Tails.

"Hello?" Tails greeted.

"Tails, it's Sonic," I replied, "Listen, did you put the forensics unit in the communicator yet?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Perfect! Where's the button for it?"

"Should be the closest to your pinky."

"Thank you."

"Who was that?" Espio asked as I shut off the call.

"That was Tails."

"Oh, yeah!" Vector exclaimed. "I remember that little guy. Is he still making planes and stuff like that?"

"Uh… well, I kinda wrecked his last one."

"Oh. Sorry."

I forgave him, even though he didn't need forgiveness in reality, and looked for the forensics button. Once I pushed it in, this holographic forensic scanner sprang up from the wrist communicator's center piece. I saw a list of individuals on right side. It had everyone's name: Me, Tails, Amy, Vector, Espio, and a bunch more. The actual scanner part was on the left side of the holographic screen.

"Whoa." Espio said astonished, "Now that's cool."

"Why don't we have gadgets like that, Vector!" Charmy yelled from behind me, "Why not!"

Vector looked overwhelmed and explained, "Because no one on this team is good with technology except for-!"

"Mighty." I interrupted.

"What?" They all asked.

While they had their three-second quarrel, I had scanned the blood stain. Only one name popped up, and that's when I interrupted, reading the victim to which the blood belonged to.

"This blood… is Mighty's." I explained, "Mighty was the victim here."

They all looked at me with these shocked expressions. Then they looked depressed. You had to feel sorry for them. To lose someone that'd been with the team since its beginnings… it hurt to see how much they cared about Mighty at this point.

"R-r-really?" Charmy sobbed, asking through tears soon to be shed.

I didn't say a word. I just nodded… to everyone.

Vector looked devastated by this event. He always respected Mighty's ability to think of strategies and technologies used to aid the mission's success. Charmy was bawling. You could tell that Mighty had cared for him since they found him. Of course, all of them cared for Charmy, but it seemed Mighty was the one mostly concerned with him, almost like a father. I admit, Mighty was pretty cool. I only met him once or twice, but he was still a nice guy to around. But the only one not fazed by Mighty's death was Espio. He only had his eyes closed, knelling on one knee, and not even shedding a tear.

"Espio?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

With his eyes closed, he answered, "I've seen people die before. It's gruesome… but it happens. No matter how people die, why they die, and what they died for, they still die. I did feel something when people died before, but now I know the truth: life is short, but death is inevitable."

"How can you know that one of your friend's is dead and not mourn for the loss?"

"Like I said, death will come no matter what. Even if it's someone special to you, they will die eventually."

"Wow, you're beginning to remind me of Shadow."

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but Shadow is dead. Only a few years ago, we had gone to the old Space Colony Ark to investigate Dr. Gerald Robotnik. It all ended with a fight with the bio-lizard, the "first" ultimate life form. Shadow sacrificed himself to save us by making the Ark be transported into a new orbit and to also refrain from moving. When we had teleported away, I was still outside the Ark. I searched for Shadow, but I only found emptiness. Then I found his wrist-ring. This was the last existing evidence that proved Shadow had once existed. I then wore this ring around my right wrist. I have remembered Shadow with this souvenir ever since.

I also recall another friend's death. Her name was Sally. Sally Acorn. You guys would have loved her. She was beautiful, thoughtful, and a one of a kind girl. However, that ended a decade before any of this happened. She had simply gone out for a stroll, but reports came later on in the night about a young girl being shot. Police say a gunman came out and shot her straight in the face. An accomplice may have also helped him. I believed... 'till later.

"Besides," Espio responded, "Only two real problems remain. One: where was the shot taken, and two: where does the killer live?"

These two questions puzzled me now. While I still felt sorry for Mighty, I knew that I had to find his killer. At this point, I turned around to find that the sun was setting and night was falling. But I realized that the sun was setting in the west. I looked back at the stain and saw that it splattered eastward. Looking back at the sun, I saw a building overlapping it a little. I then realized the big truth.

"Guys," I stated, "I think I know where the shot came from."

They all seemed surprised at my answer.

"You se, if the sun sets in the west and the blood splattered to the east, then the shot would've been taken… from that building across the street."

Vector's face was priceless again.

I then noticed that Charmy hadn't said a word since I mentioned Mighty's passing. You had to feel sorry for him. Vector seemed to be depressed by it, Espio didn't exactly care too much for it, but Mighty's death seemed to affect Charmy most of all. I began to walk over to him.

"Charmy, how're you feeling?"

He only sniffed up his tears. His antennae were hanging quite low. I took a seat on the ground next to him.

"Listen, I know Mighty is someone you cared about. I really do. Frankly, I'm in the same boat as you. But think of it this way: an individual in this world didn't like him, but he's in a better place now, where the good guys are."

"R-R-Really?" he sobbed.

God, his raspy voice was enough to make you shed a few tears.

"Of course he is. Right now, Mighty is having much fun as he did on this world. You'd want him to have fun all the time, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

Charmy, still sniffing tears, started to stand up. As he stood, I noticed a slight smile on his face. It wasn't a smile that he usually had, but just a smile mustered to let everyone know he was okay. Something about that made me smile too.

After talking to Charmy, I returned to Vector and Espio.

"Well," Espio stated, "now all that's left is determining who and where the killer is."

"Here's an idea," Vector said. "Why don't we look for possible hideouts while Sonic checks the building across the street?"

"First of all," I explained, "we don't know where he could be. Secondly, when I did I become the detective instead of you guys?"

"Well, it helps to cross out the many possibilities while we can. Besides, you have the evidence-scanning… thing."

"Alright, fine. But if your search doesn't bring any results, this will be my last favor for you guys. No joke."

We all agreed. The Chaotix, now a group of three, ran off to their van, kicking it into high gear and racing off down the road. I chuckled a little. Even after this terrifying discovery of Mighty's death, they still stick together. Now that's true friendship, maybe even family.

Anyway, I decided to head to the building's roof across the street. If any evidence of the killer's identity or whereabouts were to exist, they'd be up there. I sped across the asphalt and jumped onto the building's wall. Keeping my momentum, I sprinted up the side in only a couple seconds. Once I was got close to the roof's edge, I grabbed onto it and pulled myself up.

When I looked at the scene, something caught my attention right off the bat. There were TWO sets of footprints! Using my forensic scanner, I inspected both prints. They both were of the same shoe. One set, walking to and from the edge, were only several hours old. The other set, walking across those earlier ones, were one or two hours old. Mighty peculiar, if you asked me.

Suddenly, I heard something from behind. It sounded like… a laugh? I turned my head slowly 'till I saw a silhouette against the night sky. He had a long nose and a hat of some sort, most likely one treasure hunters use. The sad part is… I knew this guy.

"So," he said, chuckling under his words, "we meet again, Sonic. I honestly thought you'd have found me before all this happened, but right now works too."

"I don't have time for this," I declared. "Why'd you kill Mighty?"

He chuckled some more.

"You'll find out soon enough."

He pulled out a gun, or at least I thought it was a gun. When he shot, I wasn't thinking straight. I only just came face-to-face with him, so my mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of "why he did it". Fortunately, it wasn't an actual bullet. It was a tranquilizer. How do I know this? Well, I felt sleepy and faint when I got shot.

Before I fell into sleep, I remember lying on the ground, slowly falling asleep. The figure was walking towards me, chuckling to himself still. That was really getting annoying. I remember asking him,

"Why do you still do this, Nack? Why?"

He finally stopped his laughter.

"Why?" he repeated, knelling down into the light from below. It was Nack, alright. Still with his tan hat, gloves & boots, purple fur, and his cocky grin. "Because if you're good at something, why make it go to waste? Oh, and my name ain't Nack no more. It's Fang now. Fang the Sniper."

Then I lost consciousness.


	5. Dramatic Reveals and Broken Wheels

**Act I/Chapter IV: Dramatic Reveals and Broken Wheels**

Have I ever told you that I despise water? No? Well, now I have.

I'm not entirely sure why I hate it. I must've been very young when it happened, because I don't remember any bit of it. But whether I remember it or not, I still hate it. I never truly learned how to swim, so that could've played a part in why. It seemed stupid to me. Why get all worked up over something as harmless as water? It didn't make sense to me.

But, as I was saying, I had lost consciousness, thanks to Nack, now known as "Fang the Sniper". I understand the "sniper" part, but, honestly, where did the fang come from? He was a weasel, not a wolf. Then again, I guess it sounded cool at the time. Maybe he wanted to make himself be below the radar with a secret codename to avoid suspicion (if your codename is "Fang the Sniper", however, it'd probably arouse suspicion).

Anyways, I remember regaining consciousness. As soon as I did, I fell onto a floor. What a way to rise and shine. I was confused as I felt myself slightly move across the floor, once to the left, then to the right. I started to stand up, but I quickly flopped back down against the left wall, thanks to whatever was making the room twist and turn. I hit my head on the wall. I could tell this would be an interesting experience.

I looked around the room. If you walked in, the bed would be to the left, held by a chain on either corner. A set of drawers would be set up on the far right corner of the room. I'd be sitting right next to that. There was no window in the room, oddly, enough, so I couldn't tell where I was… entirely.

I began crawling to the door, turning the knob and inching my feet to the doorstep. I opened it and closed it behind me. I was now in a hallway, with a wall to my left and a long passage to a flight of stairs on the right. I noticed how small and crammed these passages were. Not even Robotnik could fit through them, which wasn't all that surprising. No offense to the big guy or anything, but I'm just saying.

I went to my right down the passage to the stairs. The boards creaked sometimes with my footsteps. Someone was a very bad ship designer. When I got to the stairs, I could tell they'd creak before I stepped on the first one. It's like the workers didn't think of a safe design. Apparently, they all wanted a death wish. But even then, I decided to go up the stairs. I came up to a door, which was a genuine one, weird for such small corridors in that place. Once I opened it, I got a taste of the outside world… and I got a bad feeling about everything else from here on out.

It wasn't because there lots of rectangular crates along the flooring, or because there was a giant penthouse type of building off in the distance among all this scenery. It was what was beyond the place I was standing, out over the railings to my left. I saw something that, once again, struck fear in my eyes: water. God, how my legs trembled at the sight of it. Even worse was the fact that I was surrounded by water. From straight down, way below my feet, out to the horizon. That's when I realized where I was. The tiny corridors, turning rooms, and crates among the floors meant only one thing: I was on a boat.

I couldn't believe it. All that time, I honestly thought it was a dream. Some dream it turned out to be. Now I knew that it was real. I could tell by the clear smell of the ocean blue from below. I looked up at the sky, and saw that it was extremely cloudy. I must've been out for several hours, because I saw some light off in the distance, beaming down from the heavens.

I looked over at the penthouse thing on the ship. It was particularly fancy, almost new age, like someone took a simple shape and made it into a building. It had a half circle glass on the top of each side, connected by a circular piece of glass in the middle. It was rectangular all the way down.

Suddenly, I heard a loud speaker come on.

"Can you hear me now?" the voice asked, "I think you do! Now then, welcome to my new ride, Sonic. It's not in the best of shape, but it's how I got to Westside."

"Cut the prattle!" I yelled. "You're letting me off this boat, now!"

"Oh, sorry, but I can't. You'd give away my position and the police would be on to me any minute. Actually, even if I let you decide to go, you still wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because I know what you fear."

I looked out at the water, just cringing at the sight.

"You little-!"

"Now, now, no need to get stressed. You can stay here if you want, as long as you help me find my targets."

"Why would you need my help? You already killed people with your 'graceful skill'. What variable would I play in the equation?"

"You see, I am a busy man, and I can't be stuck doing a job for more than a week. But if I don't get the job done, I won't get paid. That's where you'd come in. You'd help me get my targets faster, so I could get the money easier. Simple, right?"

"You lazy bum. Besides, what's stopping you from shooting me in the process?"

"Come on, Sonic. Can't we just drop it? It'll be like old times! Knuckles making trouble, Tails barely doing anything, you chasing something, all with me coming for the kill. The perfect quartet for money making!"

"You tried to kill Tails once."

Silence occupied the air for a few seconds.

"Okay, I will admit that that was a little too far, but he never knew it even happened. He was too young to know about death."

He made a good point. Tails has never really witnessed the death of another person. That much I knew. But even then…

"He's grown now. He knows about reality."

"Well, he's still alive, so that's a plus, right?"

"Nack, you're letting me off this ship. And if you refuse to let me off diplomatically…" I cracked my fingers, clinched in fists, "… then I'll get off the hard way."

"First of all, my name is no longer Nack. It's Fang. And secondly…"

A shot whizzed by my head. Honestly, I didn't see that one coming at all. I could hear Nack swearing under his breath about the shot. I snuck behind a crate and peeked around the corner. I could see Fang move beyond the window. He didn't know where I was. That gave me time to think.

I called up Tails with my communicator. I could at least try to get help. But there wasn't any response. That meant I was on my own. I banged my head against the container.

Then Nack shouted, "I heard that!"

I face-palmed myself.

_Way to go, Sonic,_ I thought.

I snuck to the other side of the crate and peeked around it. Crates and containers sprawled across the long flooring of the ship, leading up to the big penthouse area. If I was ever going to confront Fang for a way off this ship, that was the way to go. Of course, Nack could pick me off any second, but, honestly, I had to take that chance.

You might be wondering why I'm still calling him Nack. I knew him a little. At least what he's told me in battle. Truthfully, I know him by Nack, the name he started out with. It sounds threatening already. But to call a new name, it seems like he's been changed. Like he's been possessed by a symbiotic persona or something. I know him as Nack, and he should stay Nack… just without the guns and killing and the snarkiness. Definitely the snarkiness.

In any case, I ran from crate to crate, sneaking past the first two in front of me. Suddenly, Nack must've spotted and pulled an automatic weapon, because a rain of bullets came flying at me. I flinched for a moment, but had just enough time to get behind the next crate. The bullets kept hitting the crate for a second, but then it stopped. I was startled by this sudden stop and peeked over the edge. I almost stood headfirst into a bullet from a sniper. I made run for the next crate.

"You can't hide forever!" he shouted at me.

He was beginning to get on my nerves. Just 'cause I beat him up for treasure the last time I saw him doesn't mean he should have tried to kill me because of it. It was a simple misunderstanding. It worked out… after some small violence, of course. But he started it!

I decided that if I stuck with this pattern of movement, he'd predict my moves for sure. There was no way I'd still be alive… if I did it _that_ way.

I watched Nack up in the window. He took a shot and almost got me. Right near my foot. Could've lost a toe. However, I still had my final trick. I stepped out of cover, which may seem bad at first. But remember, Nack had just taken a shot, so he was busy loading the next bullet. I quickly used this opportunity to run at top speed to the door leading to the penthouse control area. The turbulence must've reached high standards, 'cause I heard the glass of the front wall shatter. Not the ceiling glass, but the front wall glass. You get the difference?

The door for the control room was on the right wall of the penthouse. Actually, I don't know why I called it a penthouse. Honestly, I don't know why I'm _still_ calling it a penthouse. But I digress.

I opened it and ran up the stairs, stopping to a sneak at the door at the top. As I opened, I expected Nack to rain bullets on my face, but he wasn't in sight. Seemed odd… but I knew he was in there. I opened the door a bit more so I could fit through, and closed it behind me. I didn't want to let Nack know where I was. I quickly walked over to the controls. I was hoping to find a sort of communicator on the dashboard, but I didn't see any.

Suddenly, I heard a yelp from behind me. As I turned, Nack jumped on me, pistol in hand. Lying on the dashboard, feet dangling over the floor, Nack was holding the pistol to my head.

"You really want to do this?" he asked me, his voice getting jumpy.

Most likely because he was raging inside.

"Go ahead," I said, "Shoot me. See how you'll feel."

"It'll be no different. Just another guy off the list."

How he wished that were true.

"Tell me, Nack. When you killed your first target, how did you feel?"

"I felt…"

He was at a loss of words.

"I felt…" he repeated, "scared."

"Okay. What happened when you killed your next target?"

"Still a little scared."

"Your third?"

"Almost routine."

"Okay…"

Then I noticed something odd.

"Wait a minute! Why did it feel so routine with your third victim?"

Nack was sweating bullets, and his gun-hand was getting' shaky.

"I…"

No answer.

"What did you do to make it feel like a routine?"

Still nothing. He began to climb off slowly, letting me lean back up. He was still pointing the gun at my head.

"Nack, you can tell me. I not supposed to be your enemy."

Nack was deep in thought. His gun still pointed, but his eyes were staring off into the distance. Tails once told this interesting fact about the connection between the eyes and brain. If a person's eyes were drifting over to the right when asked a question, he's remembering things. If he stares to the left, he is making a lie. Cops, investigators, and defense attorneys use this technique from time to time. You'd think Nack would lie, but he was most certainly searching for the truth.

"I…" he said at last, "…It was someone related to the second victim."

"So… who was this second victim?"

"His name was… Maximillian Acorn."

That was Sally's father. He was assassinated during a speech in Westside City. After his death as king of the land, the queen, Elias Acorn, took over as ruler. Sally was to be the heir to the throne. Her mother was going to have a speech the night after Sally died.

"Dang. Never thought you caused that. You've been in hiding so long. I almost forgot about you until now."

But then something clicked inside my head. Something terrible. I had a feeling about who Nack killed as his third victim.

"A couple years later, I was tired. So tired that I had trouble walking and looking at the same time. I still had my gear on, but it was dark out in Westside City."

He was actually around Westside… and I didn't even know it!

"I was walking through the park, with my friend, Mighty, by my side, and…"

"WAIT!" I interrupted, "Are you saying Mighty knew you?"

"What else does it sound like?"

This intrigued me. Mighty knew about Nack, and never told us… and Nack killed him, too! The question was: why hold it from us?

"Why was he with you?"

"He just got hold of some info of some sort, and invited out to celebrate."

"What was the info of?"

"He never told me."

"Well, forget that for now. You were talking about walking or…?"

"Well, I was walking with him, and then this… girl walks up. She's asking for directions to Emerald Drive. My guess is she'd never been to that part of the city before. I would've said something, but Mighty decided to give her directions. After she thanked us, Mighty urged us to move on. When he told me this, I was relaxing my hand on my handgun…"

This wasn't good.

"…and I wanted to ask her where she was going. I turned around. But I had a good grip on my handgun. I pulled it out. Worst of all, I wanted reach out to her. I extended my arm and hand. For some reason, I had no idea I had the gun… and I… pulled the trigger."

I shed a tear (What? Cool guys can't have feelings, too?).

"When she fell, I heard shout from across the street. They had seen me shoot her. They had seen Mighty, though they never knew it was him, with me. We had to go. I never spoke of the night since."

I opened my mouth, shedding more tears and saying, "I never thought I live to the day… when I found the killer."

"What?"

"The police… they never found you. They didn't have a file, didn't even think of you. To think that you, someone hiding for a decade or so, would kill… the woman I loved…"

Nack's face turned to shock.

"…is almost unthinkable."

Nack killed Sally. His relationship with Mighty and the rest of it explains it all. Fang shot Sally, with onlookers out and about. That's why people told of witnessing the murder. Mighty being there would explain the finding of two sets of footprints fleeing the scene. It had all been made clear.

"But…" Nack continued.

I looked back at him.

"…now that I have told you," he cocked the gun, "I'm afraid I'll have to…"

I knocked the gun from his hand. I threw myself on top of him to the ground. We rolled around, beating each other's faces in. I kicked him off, sending into a window. The side of his head was bleeding a bit. He swung at me, missed, and then actually hit me. I ran straight into the dashboard. Attempting to get off, I found myself grabbed by my quills. Nack resumed throwing my head into the dash, breaking some of the controls. I swung back at him, but I missed. He clinched my neck as I clinched his. I started to swing him around, but he kept his footing. He then shoved backwards, into the wheel of the ship, which controlled it.

The wheel began to rotate to the left. As Nack made a run at it, I grabbed it and began to pull it to the left. I don't know why, but I wanted it to go left. Any way off the boat, I guess. Nack grabbed it and began pulling to the right. Hr wanted it to be up-right. We equalized the pressure, neither of us pulling it in any different direction. Suddenly he lost all his strength and let go. But once he relinquished his grip, I still had a strong grip and pulled it to the left… and broke it off.

"Oh, crud!" Nack shouted.

At this point, I knew I had done something stupid. The ship, now set to turn infinitely to the left, was beginning to tip itself into the ocean depths. I even noticed that it had started to rain and strike lightning when I was fighting over the wheel… and it was still going. I looked over at Nack, but he was gone. I don't where he went, but he was gone. That's when I told myself to collect and figure out a solution.

I had to get off that ship.


	6. Titanic Turnabout

**Act I/Chapter V: Titanic Turnabout**

I have taken down ships before. There was one time when Robotnik kept shooting lasers at me, but ended up destroying his "flying battery", as he called it. I even made a dent in his Death Egg… and destroyed it, too! But the only difference between those ships and the ship Nack and I were on was that I destroyed Robotnik's ships _intentionally_. Obviously, breaking the wheel off was not my plan at all.

Now I _really_ had to get off. Even though I hadn't a plan, I still needed to. I ran over to the broken window. I hopped onto the dashboard and climbed through it. While standing in the middle of the window, I looked out at the left of the ship and saw… a rock. Not just any rock, but a big, massive rock. It resembled the shape of the glacier the Titanic crashed into. The worst part was that the ship turning towards it. While the ship may be rotating into the sea, the rock could cause to point upwards and sink just like the Titanic. History couldn't make me feel any more worried than that moment.

I looked out and up the front side of the control area. There was another set of windows above. I decided to climb up to them and break in. I could find something useful in the next room… hopefully. I jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge of the window. I was able to maintain hold long enough to think things through.

Things were getting slippery. Rain had been pouring down ever since Nack had told me that he killed Sally. It was really coming down, and thunder was striking as well. I heard it way off in the distance. This was bad. Very bad. I almost lost my grip due to the weather.

However, I was able to damage the window to the upper floor enough to fit through without getting cut. When I hopped in, I looked around. It seemed that the upper floor was something of a ball room. It had a stage, a couple tables set up, and a grand golden chandelier hanging from the glass ceiling. With the ship soon to take a turn into a rock, I had to think fast before the pressure of the water would break the glass and flood the room. I noticed a set of doors open on the far side of the room, leading to a hallway. That seemed like the way out.

As I ran across the room, steady and with ease, a shot flew by my nose. My nerves got the better of me and I fell to the ground. Thanks to the ship's balance, I ended up rolling down to the left wall of the room. I looked around and saw Nack, hanging around on the chandelier. I was confused.

"How'd you even get up there?" I yelled at him.

"Like a magician," he explained, "an assassin keeps the works of his tricks a secret."

"A moment ago, you were sad about your third victim. Now, you're happy that you could have a fourth!"

"Not could. Will!"

He took another shot at me. I rolled along the crease of the wall. Bullet after bullet, Nack kept missing. I guess I was too fast. This happened the last time I fought him, too. The difference was we were in well-lit cave, not a boat.

Speaking of which, the boat's left side was becoming a surface to walk on with your legs. Now, it was the ground. Nack had slid off the chandelier's top. The chandelier had banged itself against the glass ceiling. It wasn't broken, but it had a few cracks. Nack was now dangling from the bottom tip, gun still in hand. As he was about to take his next shot, it happened.

I could feel the ship jolt as it hit the giant rock up front. Though it nearly knocked me off my feet, I took my next plan of action. I ran across the wall, acting as my ground, and jumped onto the chandelier. I looked out the glass ceiling. I then noticed that the ship was rotating right. I mean, if you were lying down and facing the left and turned your head forward, you'd be facing the ceiling. Well, the ship was doing this exact same thing now, slowly. As it rotated its nose to the sky, I felt the chandelier swinging back and forth in subtle movements, inching closer to the back part of the glass ceiling. I could hear it dragging its sharp points across the glass.

While this process was occurring, I was busy with Nack. I had just kicked the gun out of his hand, which had fall to the back wall. He grabbed my arm and pulled me over. He socked me in the face, forcing me to relinquish my grip and grab a lower portion of the chandelier. I grabbed his foot and tried to pull him off, with Nack still hanging on for dear life. I lost my grip on him and he kicked me in my shoulder. God, how that hurt!

However, I realized that the ship was slowly sinking into the water. It hadn't reached our height above it, but it would if I didn't attempt to escape submersion. I shimmied along the low rim of the chandelier, squeezing myself in between it and the glass ceiling (or wall, technically). I pressed against the glass with my feet, the chandelier with my arms. I extend them as far away from each other as I could, then I did something quite death-defying.

I jumped of the glass, pushing the chandelier away as well. Luckily, I grabbed onto the very bottom tip of it before it was out of reach. As I hung on, I could really feel the weird feeling of pausing in midair before moving back the other way. It's like when you jump and have that slight moment in the air between going up and down. Quite sensational.

It began to swing back, gaining momentum. I saw Nack in shock above me, clinging to the chandelier's side. I braced myself for a great force to beat upon us both. With the weather consisting of great winds, heavy rain, and lots of thunder, you kinda have to agree.

The glass shattered, flying out into the sea and forcing us to be left in the storm. The chandelier actually swung out of the room, through the hole and out into the ferocious conditions. The wind was so strong that the chandelier, which was once hanging from the ceiling, was torn from its joint and sailed off. Fortunately, in the four seconds before it was completely torn away, I climbed it to the top and jumped for it. I snatched onto a pipe that lined the ship. I began panting wildly. All that had happened in that last minute was beginning to take away my breath. Of course, I had done stuff like this before. But this felt… different. Almost like something new was around this time.

I watched the chandelier fly off, sailing into the sea. Most likely, it's down at the bottom of… whatever sea I was at. I closed my eyes and calmed myself… sort of. I mean, if you were in this situation, you'd want to be neutral in your mindset, in terms of mood. Honestly, I would've been determined and confident, but it felt like I was losing everything… or was just starting to.

Anyways, I looked up at the side of the ship, and… boy, did it look long! I couldn't believe I was going to even attempt to climb up that thing, but I did. Hand after hand, I climbed up. The rain was making it quite slippery, the winds were trying to pull off, and the thunder was scaring the crud out of me. There was honestly too much going on, and that's saying something, coming from me.

Every so often, I'd find a crate from the ship fly over the railing I was climbing. Each one would demolish the pieces of pipe near my feet. I would never be able to climb back down. At this point, I thought I was screwed. Dying on a boat is a lousy way to go.

Finally, I reached the top of the boat (technically the front of it). The floor wasn't flat, but I was able to stand on most of it. I looked around, but I only saw the rain dropping, heard the thunder pounding, and watched the rock rise while the ship descended. Honestly, I thought I was gonna be stuck here forever. But then I was kicked in my back, knocking me onto the ground. Thank god it was mostly flat, or I would have slid off. I turned my head to see Nack there, with his angry eyes and hand in his holster.

"So this is it, huh?" I asked, "You're gonna shoot me, even though it won't do anything?"

Nack looked at his gun, cocked it, and then back at me.

"It'll kill you."

"Okay, but what will you do once I'm dead? Where will you go? From what I see, all you'll be able to do is swim to land… which is very far away by now."

His eyes were darting around, his head slightly moving in their direction. I guess he never did think that far ahead… which doesn't make much sense. I mean, this is an assassin who takes time in planning out how to kill someone without being seen. To not think this far ahead… well, I guess he was planning on me actually dying BEFORE I came to the control room.

When he wasn't looking at me, I decided to run up to him and knock him down. He fell, his gun flying to the edge of the flat front. It didn't slide of, though. Nack grabbed my head and kicked my legs. He sent me over him, landing on my back. I rolled over and, while Nack was getting up, grabbed his foot. I dragged it across the surface within reach. Nack slipped and fell as I dragged him, but he grabbed my head and punched me. As I got up, he kicked my back to the ground. Now I was really in pain. I don't think I've really hurt my back before. But one thing is for sure: Nack had a boot to kick with.

As I stumbled up, suffering from back pains, I heard a gun cock to my right. I looked over to see Nack, panting quickly and ready at the trigger. I couldn't help but gasp.

"See ya later, 'Sonny boy'."

Then I remembered my uncle Chuck. He was the nicest guy ever and the closest thing I ever had to a family. But I remembered that my uncle was shot by a gunman as well, due to past deals left undone. The killer left a note in his office. I had the police show me it when I was older. It read:

_I knew Chuck for a while. He did once tell me of his nephew, a feisty little guy who wanted more from life. Chuck always called him "Sonny Boy". But sadly, that boy will have to remain a loner, because now his uncle, thanks to his many back alley deals, has sealed his fate with my pistol. Hope you enjoy all that remains of him._

_My sincerest apologies (but not really), Fang the Sniper_

Uncle Chuck was Nack's first victim! How did I not remember Nack's nickname before? I knew it sounded obscure. But the only thing was that my uncle died a few years after I was born. I wouldn't have met Nack for another 12 years (I was three). So, obviously, Nack knew about me from Uncle Chuck and his deals, so he went after me a couple years back to make me face the gun as well. Like father, like son, I suppose.

But this revelation had just clicked in my head on that boat. When he said that to me, I was about to yell at him, but he raised the gun, and I flinched. I raised my left hand to my chest and my right somewhat extended out in front of my eyes. Then it happened.

I saw a flash light up my view. I couldn't see. I heard the gun shot, but I hadn't been wounded. I fell back out of shock. The flash disbanded and… Nack was gone. I didn't see him hanging anywhere on the front of the ship. I rose up and searched the edges. I looked out at the sea, which was pretty much covered with wind, rain, and thunder at this point. I fell to my knees and closed my eyes.

"Nack…" I whispered. I suddenly looked up, eyes open.

"NACK!" I yelled at the heavens.

After this exertion of energy, I fell back, looking up at the clouds. I felt the rain drench my face as I began to lose consciousness. Before I fell into slumber, I couldn't help but think,

_What did Uncle Chuck see me becoming before he died?_

Then I lost consciousness.

Honestly, I don't know how many times I've lost consciousness in this story.


	7. Another Prophecy

**Act I/Chapter VI: Another Prophecy**

If there is one guy I know that always seems to help me in a pinch unintentionally, it's Knuckles the Echidna. I met Knux when I wanted to take a vacation, and I chose Angel Island, a floating paradise which was stuck in the ocean at the time. Over many brawls and revelations, we both became acquaintances and defeated Robotnik. Without his aid, I don't think we could've stopped the doctor several times before.

He was something of a wise guy that kicked major butt. He was filled with knowledge of ancient civilizations and prophecies. He always had a plan… which was to improvise. While he did have this mind of guidance, he never backed down in terms of fighting. He was a true brawler. I swear, if you stuck him in a boxing ring, he could demolish his opponent with little force needed. Of course, you'd have to take his spiky gloves away to make it not murder.

Why am I mentioning him? It's simple. He was the first person I woke up to after the boat experience. Honestly, I didn't even think about where I was. I just started to talk.

"Knuckles?" I mumbled through blurry eyes, "Is that you?"

And of course, he responded in his usual gruff voice, "No, Sonic. I'm Charmy. Why would Knuckles be the guardian of this place?"

Gotta love his sarcasm. It cracks me up.

"I know it's you, Knux. I was just testing to see if you still hated me."

He reached his hand out. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

"I don't hate you. I just hope for echidna's sake you don't end up endangering my job again."

"Not like you benefit from it anyway. Sitting alone on an island is something you'd probably do when you're in your twilight years. You're not in your twilight years."

"Oh, so because I'm young, I'm not allowed to do something that, supposedly, old people do? Besides, I was tasked with this ever since my race died out. I'm not letting anyone endanger my father's trust."

Oh, yeah. Knuckles's father, that's right. He was a big figure in Echidna legend, supposedly. He led many armies to victory, pleased his people, and was super intimidating even at dinner. He was like Napoleon Bonaparte, only taller. However, at least from what Knux told me, his father was lost in some sort of sandstorm or something. What a way to go. I don't know how the other echidnas died, but even if I did, I'd say that Knuckle's father's death was the most peculiar to figure out. For me, at least.

"So I'm on Angel Island? Well, ain't that a coincidence that I happened upon you during… wait, how did I even get here?"

I checked my surroundings. We were on the left side of Angel Island. The south side faced land, which was about a couple hundred yards away if the island were at sea level. On this portion of the island, the shrine stood, containing the Master Emerald.

That gem is the most powerful of all the emeralds. It controls the Chaos Emeralds and helps maintain their energy. One time, I literally used the Master Emerald's power to magnify the Chaos Emeralds' power ten times the usual, thus creating the Super Emeralds. This granted me the ability to go "hyper", as some people call it. I shine like a rainbow and am faster and stronger than ever before. The only problem is it's dangerous. It nearly killed me the last time I went to that level of power. The Chaos Emeralds run out of juice quicker when they're Super Emeralds. I haven't done it since I chased down Ro-butt-nik in an asteroid field two decades from this story's time.

There was a cliff right by where we were standing. Below that was water. Believe me. By this point, I was not going off of land anymore. Knuckles explained my situation.

"You were floating in the ocean when I saw you. You were passing under the island, so I dropped a ladder down and carried you back up here."

"Why didn't you wake me up in the water?"

"First of all, that would be a stupid idea. And secondly, I know you. I didn't want a hedgehog freaking out. It'd mess with my duties."

"Good point."

"Why were you out in the ocean? Tails push you in "by accident" again?"

"No. It's a long story."

As if on cue, my communicator started ringing. Thank god for things being water-proof! I took the call.

"This is Sonic."

"Finally!" the voice complained. "Where have you been?"

It was Tails. I could tell by his squeakiness.

"Well, how long was I away?" I asked.

"A couple days or so," he responded, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just a… killer gone missing."

"You didn't catch him? How come?"

"Well, let's just say-."

"No. I'm not letting you get away with your riddles again. What happened?"

"Well, you see, this guy named Nack was the killer. Knux might know him. He… was connected to some other killings in the past… ones I've been aware of for a while. I fought him, but… he disappeared."

"Disappeared? That doesn't seem physically possible!"

'That's what I thought! Usually, you don't see big flashes of light right in front of you! Should that ever happen?"

"Well, there were thunderstorm warnings last night."

"I was IN that thunderstorm! But thunder didn't strike at us; there were no marks left. I'm beginning to think I had something to do with it."

"Sonic, you have the power of speed. What other power could you possibly have? Unless you've been regressing the urge to pull flash bangs out of your butt, I don't see anything pointing towards you!"

"But that's what puzzles me! He didn't shoot me! I didn't shoot him! Ugh! This makes less sense than Rayman: Origins!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down! We'll figure this out."

I took a deep breath.

"Look, I'll just head back to you when I'm finished at Angel Island, okay? I have people to see."

"Wait, you're at Angel Island?

"Gotta go, Tails."

"Say hi to Knuckles for me!"

"Sure thing, little bro."

I closed the call.

Knuckles was giving me the "raised eyebrow" look.

"Wow," he commented, "Your conversations getting' shorter? I thought you two were best friends, even brothers."

"We had an argument," I explained, "and I now am thinking about myself."

"When do you not?"

"No, I'm being serious, Knux. I'm really trying to remember what my purpose was BEFORE all of this. Not that I'm not grateful for what I got, but now I'm thinking of me before going hero."

Knuckles put his arm around and poked me.

"You've always wanted to play the hero, or at least that's what Sally said."

"Sally…" I whispered.

I started remembering that night she went out… and putting Nack in the killer's spot. It was… well, I cringed because of it.

"Something wrong?"

"Nack killed Sally."

"Really? Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

"It's probably because Nack's done things like that before. I asked him why he did it still, but he gave the old 'ain't broke, don't fix it' routine."

"That sounds like Nack."

"He killed her by accident, though, so I do feel some sympathy for him, but I still wonder why he killed Maximillian Acorn and Uncle Chuck. It's just…"

I sighed. Knuckles was baffled by the info hitting him all at once. I just told him the killer of three murders, only two of relatives, one of someone I held dear. Knuckles shoke his head.

"Well, I honestly don't know what to tell ya. I guess you could try to find him and-."

"That's the thing. I CAN'T find him. Something knocked him off the boat."

"Something? Wait, when did this something come?"

"When I flinched at his gun being cocked."

"Hmm."

He contemplated for a bit. Usually, when Knux figures something out, he starts to explain it in real life terms, but then he prattles onto prophecies and stuff like that. I was actually afraid of what prophecy I'd fulfill next.

"Wait a second," he began, "What hand was further out than the other?"

"Umm," I thought, "the… right, I think?"

"Okay. Well, let me see your right hand."

I raised it up to him. He looked at it, and then looked shocked after a couple seconds.

"What?" I asked.

"What's around your hand?" he asked.

I looked. All I saw was Shadow's ring. You know, the one I wear around my right wrist as a souvenir and reminder of his sacrifice. Actually saying it that way makes it sound important… which it turned out to be.

"Tell, Sonic," he asked, "What was one of Shadow's powers?"

"Um," I responded, "There was… he had Chaos Spear."

"Eureka!"

Made me think of "Doctor Who" somewhat.

"That's it!" he shouted.

"What's it?" I asked.

"I was absolutely lost here.

"Now, listen to me on this one. Shadow died, right? Somehow, his ring was still around after the Chaos Control. Well, maybe some of his Chaos energy is stored within that ring…"

"Oh, boy. I see where this is going."

"… and you just happened to harness it."

"That's so stupid, Knux. How could his Chaos Energy be stored in this little ring?"

"Well, he died using it, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, the energy must have been stored somewhere in the meantime. Suppose he was weak and couldn't his inner power. Than he'd have a back-up: ring storage. It's the perfect theory."

"Theory, Knux. Theory. This has become far-fetched enough."

I began acting out what I was saying.

"You're telling me that Chaos Energy is stored in this ring, and when I go like THIS…"

I lashed my hand out in an angular slash. But much to my surprise… Chaos Spears actually came out! The light particles were less bright than the night before, so I could see still. I was amazed at Knuckle's theory being correct. Knuckles was crying out loud because of it.

"What did I tell you?" he asked, yelling in my face… which was absolutely unnecessary. "The prophecy's true."

"Again? How many prophecies am I gonna fulfill Knux just curious. Actually, do you just make these in your own time?"

"Just come with me."

He led into a cave burrowed in the canyon wall surrounding the back of the shrine. I walked into a surprisingly well-lit room; torches were perched on the wall and carvings were on them as well. I noticed many stories similar to my adventures. I noticed one of a giant robot and a yellow spiky being going after a glowing green gem, a reference to my chase through the asteroid field. I saw another with a spiky haired being growing fur, a reference to my journey across the world as a werehog. I even saw a one portraying a tall, skinny, spiky guy and a short, pudgy, spiky guy, which was a reference to the time I met my past self.

"Ah!' Knuckles exclaimed, "Here it is."

He pointed at another carving. It showed a spiky haired being shoot what looked like lightning out of one hand and green aura out of the other. It looked like someone was tripping when they drew this one.

"One prophecy states that-."

"You know," I interrupted, "Why are they all separate prophecies? If they're all happening to me my whole life, then why aren't they all stringed together?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. But anyway, one prophecy states that one shall come across two very different yet cooperative powers. One power lends the ability to use energy as a projectile. The other lends the user the power of telekinesis. Together, the two powers will help the one bring down the darkness taking over the land."

"One question: where do I get telekinesis from? I don't have it right now."

"Well, the prophecy is almost fulfilled. All you need to have is telekinesis and the power to stop the evil at all costs."

"Oh, and the second thing. What's this evil they speak of? If it's Nack, then the prophecy has technically been fulfilled."

"That I don't know. However, you must find the ability of telekinesis."

"Why?"

"Because the prophecy is coming true! But if you, the one, must get these powers, then the evil must sweep the land as well."

"Dang. Something tells me I'm screwed."

"Honestly, if this one is wrong, then I must wonder what made them prophesize this."

"Well, thanks, Knux. I'll look into the telekinesis thing. In the meantime, do you need help?"

"Not at the moment. For now, I must return to my post. You can proceed to Tails's workshop, now that we're done."

We walked to the steps of the shrine.

"If you need anything, just let me know. But don't call for me to open the refrigerator door again."

"Don't worry. Just… one more thing."

"And that is what?"

I looked out at the cliff, with only water below, then back at Knuckles.

"How do I get back without touching the water?"

Knuckles face-palmed himself. Once again, you gotta love Knuckles.


	8. Big & Sinister… Well, Just Big

**Act I/Chapter VII: Big & Sinister… Well, Just Big**

There are times when the sky is my territory. Of course, I'm not usually the one flying (unless I've gone super). Most of the time, Tails flies me around with the tornado. But he always finds me to be a weird passenger sometimes, because I like to stand on the wings of his plane. However, I accidentally trashed his last one, the Tornado-II, and he hasn't made another since. Because of this, I had to find another way off of Angel Island.

Thankfully, I had Knuckles. You see, one thing besides his wisdom and his power, Knux has the ability to glide. Now, by glide, I don't mean using wind to go in all directions. He simply falls at a slower speed than others. For me, I fall down a 50 foot building at the same rate a normal person would. However, Knuckles's gliding reduces his descent and makes him go down about 6 times less than the average individual. Not only that, but this allows him to let his fists be free for punching if need be.

To explain how I got down, I basically… well, actually, Knuckles told me to jump off, so I jumped. I may have raised my pitch a little higher when I screamed… *ahem* but I was immediately saved by Knuckles. He glided under me, and I landed on him. He did complain a little (it's not my fault for eating a lot of chili dogs), but he mustered. I actually recall acting like he was my surfboard for a portion of the trip, but he gave this look that sent into a silent treatment.

When I landed at the coastline, I thanked him for the ride. As I ran off to Tails's place, I began to wonder how Knuckles would get back up to Angel Island. Well, now I see why he doesn't come off the island often. Ah, well.

I got to Tails's workshop in… about 20 seconds. I stopped at his door because… well, last time, I caused a whirlwind. I opened the door casually. He looked up at me, and then stood up.

"Sonic," he said, "Dang, it's good to see you again. How was Knux and Angel Island?"

"Oh," I replied, "Knuckles makes fun of me, I do the same, I find out I'm in another prophecy, and Knuckles can't stand me afterwards. You know, the usual."

"Another one? Dang, you're pretty important to those echidnas."

"I know! And here I thought they'd have an echidna to trust."

"Maybe he died, and that's why the echidnas are gone."

"That could be."

"What's the prophecy this time?"

"Well, I'm supposed to gain two powers to stop another evil that's supposed to take over the land. Some of I has been fulfilled already."

"How so?"

"Well, Shadow's ring helped do it."

"What?"

"I can actually shoot Chaos Spears now. Supposedly, Shadow had some "back-up energy" stored in them. At least, that's what Knuckles said."

"What's the other power?

"Telekinesis. I don't know where I could get that one."

"Silver maybe?"

Silver was a telekinetic hedgehog. Some people said he looked like he was from the future, but probably in another reality. Silver was in the present day. His accessories are custom-made, though. They're inspired by several sci-fi movies, mostly recommended by Tails. I think Tails was getting at Silver giving one of his wrist rings to have as well.

"Well, he's not gonna give it to me. Besides, I don't even know where he is anymore. He said he was going to go find a way back to Blaze's dimension."

Blaze, on the other hand, was from another dimension. She was a cat with the powers of fire. It was so deep within her that when she gets angry, her powers will show. Silver and Blaze worked together from time to time. Meaning Silver would be brought into Blaze's dimension to fend off Eggman Nega, an alternate version of Robotnik, only with a grey mustache and black suit.

Blaze sacrificed her life for Silver in a battle with Nega. Silver mourned her loss. And because she was the only one keeping him in the dimension, when she died, Silver was instantly sent back here. He blamed himself for her death ever since. Now, he's trying to find a way back into Blaze's dimension to get revenge on Eggman Nega.

"Well," Tails said, "I don't know how you'll get telekinesis then. By the way, what's the evil?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Considering all that's happened, with Robotnik going M.I.A. after the "Time Eater Incident", it'll be a big one, whatever's coming our way."

"How can we tell when it comes?"

"That is one I also don't know. Knuckles said it'd 'sweep the land as well'."

"Sounds like it'll be widespread insanity."

"Definitely."

Suddenly, we heard a beeping from upstairs. I assumed it was Tails's computer, so I ran with him up the stairs. He sat at his seat, and I stood by him. He clicked a couple buttons and a window opened up. The screen was dark, but we could make out a slight silhouette, with highlights of light around the top edges. I kind of knew who this was… and wasn't Nack either.

"If it isn't Sonic," the man said, using this low, but evil voice. "I hope you haven't forgotten me already."

"Sorry," I responded, "But you don't cross my mind. Tails, did we fight anyone like this… with this big bulbous shape here?"

"Nope," Tails straight-up replied. "No, I don't think so."

"Enough of your sarcasm!" the man announced.

That shut us up a little bit.

"Now then, as I was saying? I know you haven't forgotten me, and you shouldn't underestimate me. You'd die if you did."

"Whoa, hey!" I yelled back at him, "That's a little harsh for a guy like you, ain't it.?"

"Silence! For I have something brewing that will send you into eternal darkness. Never before have I been able to do this… until now."

"What are you saying?" Tails questioned, "You're saying you'll sit on us?"

I had to laugh at that one.

"Ger," the man growled, "Sonic, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Besides, if you're gonna fulfill that prophecy, you need two powers. And so far, it looks like you only have one."

He was beginning to freak me out.

"What are you up to now?"

"You'll find out in… 30 seconds. Trust me, Sonic. You have seen the last…"

I gazed into his eyes, which were covered with sunglasses. I looked at his big mustache. While I used to make fun of him before, I could tell he was really getting dirty with this one.

"…of Robotnik!"

He cut the transmission. Tails was in shock.

"How…" he started, "…what do we do?"

But he wasn't really talking to anyone. I had left the upstairs. I had just gone through the front door when he looked down from his balcony.

"Sonic, where are you going?"

"Don't worry, little bro! I'm staying here. I have a feeling Robotnik is coming here."

20 seconds left.

"Are you sure? Why wouldn't he go to Central City, or even Westside? What's stopping him from going to Angel Island even?"

Then I remembered. Knuckles was currently off the island. Robotnik could be looking over the island right now, and Knuckles wouldn't be able to do a thing. I looked back up at Tails.

"Do you have anything to fly us over there?"

Tails looked back. He seemed to be thinking about something. He turned to me.

"Well… there is me."

I groaned.

"What?" Tails asked.

"Oh, boy," I muttered, "This'll be awkward."

I basically ran back to the beach with Tails holding onto my hand. I had a feeling that his head was spinning (when was it not?). I skidded to a stop at the coastline. Tails flew over my head and face-planted in the sand in front of me. I chuckled a little and picked him up. Sand covered his face.

"How many things are gonna hit your face this week?" I asked him.

He spat sand out of his mouth.

"You tell me."

I grinned at him, but then I looked around the coast for Knux. He was a little less than two meters from me. I ran across the coast.

"Knux!"

He looked over at me. He was sitting in the sand.

"Oh," he said, "Thanks for leaving me here, not guarding my-!"

"Save your banter for later, Knux! We're gonna get you up there!"

"Whoa, wait, why?"

"Angel Island's in danger, dude!"

10 seconds left.

Knuckles took a deep inhale.

"You better not be joking with me."

"We're not! We're just…listen, we're gonna carry you up there, okay?"

"How?"

"Look, just grab on at the sound of 5."

"Grab on what?"

"Remember, the sound of 5."

5 seconds left.

"Okay."

"Five!"

"What?"

Tails jumped in the air and began flying. I launched myself into the air. He grasped my hands at the peak of my jump. Knuckles, taken by surprise, began running and jumped up. He grabbed onto my ankles at the last second. Honestly, I felt like my legs were gonna fall off any moment then.

2 seconds remaining.

Tails flew as fast as he could. I knew he wasn't as fast as me, but he could at least keep up with me for several seconds… which is very good. I could feel Knuckles's aggression over the situation, considering his increasing pressure on my ankles. I knew we wouldn't make in time, but I had to do something.

1 second left.

I let my right hand relinquish its grip in Tails's hand. I could sense some confusion in Tails's reaction, which consisted of looking down at me with the "raised eyebrow" look. I put my right hand against my left shoulder. I closed my eyes. I then swung my arm to the right. Chaos Spears flew out of my fingertips and flew off towards Angel Island.

I then noticed that the further they go… the bigger they get! It absolutely surprised me. I never knew Shadow's powers could do that. Then again, his blasts were usually directed towards me, running on the ground. They hit me at times, but they usually hit the ground. I guess he really didn't have enough range to generate bigger blasts.

Time was up.

I watched as they flew off into the distance. Suddenly, I saw shapes form beyond the spears, all standing on Angel Island. They could only be one thing… or one group, I should say: the Badniks. These guys still looked the same from my werehog experience. They were basically half-spheres with legs and arms. They really weren't that intimidating… back then. At this time, they seemed upgraded.

I asked Tails what he saw on the island.

"It looks a lot like a big battalion, mixed with the usual bots and a few big ones," he responded. "This could be a while."

"Not on my watch!" Knuckles yelled.

"You won't make it! It's three-hundred feet away!"

"Knuckles can glide," I answered, "Remember?"

"Oh, god," Knuckles groaned. "Not again."

"Do you want to get Angel Island faster or not?"

Just then, the spears hit. I saw a big flash. According to my view of the aftermath, about half the robots were decimated. My God, the Chaos Spears were so useful!

"There's still some left," I noted.

"Fine! Let's just do it!"

"Knuckles, remember that the prophecy won't be fulfilled if we don't stop this!"

"This is the great evil?"

"Well, a small part of it, at least. I'm sure there's way more, waiting for us."

I let go of Tails. Knuckles let go of my ankles. He began to glide, with me standing on him. I looked at the island. The bots had no idea what hit them, which figured. Robotnik never did create many intelligent. Now, mind you, there a few. Metal Sonic was one of them, but I've never seen one as intelligent as him. Robotnik would still have him if he hadn't attempted to restrict Metal Sonic's actions. Now Metal's out and about, wherever he's hiding.

Anyways, we got close to Angel Island. Once I was only several feet from the cliff, I immediately launched off of Knux and grabbed onto the ledge. I heard Knuckles whisper, "Finally," as he stuck himself to the side of the island. As I pulled myself up onto the ledge, I looked back to search for Tails… but I didn't see him. I supposed he must've gotten far without us. I looked back to see the robots beginning to turn their attention to me.

Some were the average size and look, but the others were different. There were ones painted black with tubes attached to their arms, along with some big, giant ones, and even ones that had electric prods as weapons. I swear, Robotnik sure knew how to make his Badniks SEEM sinister.

Knuckles joined me on the ledge. It felt weird, standing next to him. I had never been in a situation where I had to fight alongside Knux before. I turned to him. He was cracking his knuckles and pounding his fists. He was ready to kick bot butt. And I was with him on that one.

"You ready?" he asked me, pumped to see some action.

"You bet!" I told him efficiently, readying myself for the coming brawl.

The first second, we just stood there. The next, we were starting our bombardment. Knux took the left side while I chose the right. I don't entirely remember Knux's part of the fight, but I'll try my best to piece it together with mine.

I smashed my first bot to the ground, sparks flying into the air. I then stood on that hand and basically rolled forward into the air. My legs landed on a Badnik's head (so to speak). I pushed down with my legs and forced myself up onto it. I then stomped on it, which then sent me flying upwards.

Just then, flames were spraying between my legs. I leaned forward, swinging my legs up and away. I looked to see one of the Badniks with tubes on its arms; turns out those tubes on the arms were actually flamethrowers! I then used my special ability which I call the "Homing Attack".

The Homing Attack, for those who don't know, is like a homing device implanted in me to send myself flying straight into an enemy. While this can definitely take away momentum at times, it allows me to chain them together.

I got this after my adventures with Knux. Tails believed I could target enemies better with a new ability. The only stuff that I knew I could use to attack were my "Super Sonic Spin Attack" (or jump, for those without imaginations) and my Spindash, which I was born with. Tails decided to implant a device into my shoes that could generate a current throughout my body when I so desired which would let me control when I wanted to hone in on an enemy. Not only that, but it also gave enough force to absolutely decimate certain enemies, but cause massive damage to all. Actually, no one else knows about this except me and Tails, so it's a mystery to everyone else. Well, I guess now you know it, too.

But, back to the action. Like I was saying, I was in the air, targeting the flame throwing Badnik. I honed in on it, stomping my feet straight into its head. It blew up as I jumped off beyond its remains. I honed in on a couple more targets. Suddenly, more flames aimed at me. I twirled and landed safely on the ground. I looked up to see a group of six flamethrower Badniks. I was about to rampage into them, but I was interrupted.

Knuckles came from behind me, hopped over my head, rolled across the ground, and socked the first bot right in the face. He then jumped to the right and kicked the next one. After falling on his stomach, he rolled and tripped the bot on the left. He then punched that one in the face. He then ran for the Badnik in the middle of the last three.

Then I decided to help Knux out. He readied my arm and swung. I controlled the Chaos Spears in a way to reduce the amount. Only two Spears shot out, one to the left and one to the right. The two hit the targets on the sides of Knuckles. But even with the explosions of both bots, Knux was barely fazed. He seemed to only focus on a single target, with no outside commotion to get in his way. He sprung in front of the last Badnik and smashed it into the ground. Heck, it even rolled back a couple feet.

Knuckles looked back at me.

"Sonic, look!" he shouted at me.

I turned back to see the rest of the Badniks behind us. I heard guns revving up, flames being blown, and mechs stomping our way.

"I see you haven't impacted their offensive much." I noted.

"We've only been brawling for a minute." He responded.

"Well, let's brawl for a few more."

"You read my mind."

We both readied ourselves. I looked over at him, and he nodded. I nodded back. We both had the same idea of what to do.

We then heard Tails from behind us.

"Sonic! Knuckles! Let me help!"

"We need all the help we can get." I replied.

"You don't think we can do it ourselves?" Knuckles asked.

"Hey, it's time he saw some real action outside of the cockpit," I commented. You ready, lil' bro?"

"As I'll ever be." Tails responded.

"You know what to do, right?" Knux asked.

"Even if I don't, I'm good at improvising." Tails stated.

"Hm," Knux thought. "Impressive little guy, isn't he?"

I looked back at the army before us.

Knuckles yelled, "For Angel Island!"

We all charged towards the Badniks, full speed ahead.

At the time, I thought this was a death sentence. But when is an army of Badniks made by Ro-butt-nik a death sentence?

* * *

><p>Sorry for the long wait. I don't have a laptop, so I have to use the computer in my school's dorm. And to top it off, I was on spring break. Trust me about this: the breaks are so much better here. But anyways, I'm back! Expect Chapter VIII to be up within the next week.<p>

Over the break, I thought the story through a bit more, so I've got some fresh ideas. Please let me know if you want to see any characters or stages in the story. I'll know which ones are already there. Anywho, please review this story and give me critique! I wan to tell a story that entertains you guys effectively.


	9. Not Just For Show

**Act I-Chapter VIII: Not Just For Show**

You know, most of the time, charging straight into an army of opposing forces isn't such a good idea. I guess it'd seem okay when you have nothing to lose. However, if you were us, you'd do this anyway. You don't even have to have lost anything and you'd still be crazy enough to charge right at the enemy. But remember: these are Robotnik's Badniks, so they only LOOK sinister.

All three of us charged at the bots. I took the middle while Tails split right and Knux took the left. I hopped in the air and started a "homing chain" along the first several bots. And by "homing chain' I mean a string of homing attacks. However, one of those big mechs must've hit me, because I flew into the part of the shrine on my right. As I looked back, it was most definitely a big mech. Its arms looked like they weighed a ton, but it was holding them up with no prob.

Of course, my repertoire of cheesy lines came to me then… along with a new idea.

"You're pretty big," I commented, looking up into its "face" (the general area where the face would be).

But then I hooked my right arm over to my shoulder.

"But I've fought bigger." I swung my arm out and Chaos Spears shot out. They bashed straight into the mech, causing it to slowly collapse into pieces.

"I actually thought that wouldn't wo-."

I was kicked into the air. Looking down, I saw a few more mechs in my way. I was revving up my arm again, but then I was caught. I looked up to see Tails.

"What are you doing?" I asked initially, only to be startled by bullets a few seconds later.

"They've got guns!" Tails explained.

The fox flew swiftly through the air, bullets whizzing by us. I looked at the mechs, now with arm hatches open and sporting turrets. I had no idea how I didn't see that. I guess Robotnik improved that part as well.

Tails dropped me off near the foot of the shrine.

"More bots coming,' he noted.

I turned from the shrine to find a big platoon of 'em, making their way to the shrine.

"I'll help!" The lil' bro announced as he ran off into the enemies.

I didn't think Tails had a means to fight, but then I took a second look at him. He had this big brown satchel thing. It was basically on of those packs that around your shoulder. He unbuckled its flap and took out a… get this… a giant wrench!

Yeah, I didn't see that comin' either, but I guess he's pretty resourceful… to get a wrench that menacing in size to also play that same role in combat is beyond my comprehension.

Speaking of which, Tails began smacking down the Badniks like they were nothing. As I began to run at my set of foes, I inspected Tails's combat. He hopped over a bot and smashed in its head and landed on the other side. He forced the right bot back, using his wrench as a joust. He then swung clockwise into the bot on his left. He latched his wrench onto the node atop one bot's head, hopped up, and swung under it while pulling it down to the ground. Quite the strategic fighter, eh?

I held a homing chain for three bots before stopping at another flamethrower. Once it started blowing flames, I ran around him. The flames began to move down to my level, so I had to duck down. As it lowered its flamethrowers, I had to literally slide under the fire! Okay, maybe not slide, but I got pretty low. I know that.

After nearly having to crawl, I lay down and rolled away from it. I stood up to find the Badnik as dizzy as Tails once became in a city. And no, it wasn't drug-related. I'll explain later. Anyways, noticing the Badnik's potentially weakened state, I hopped up and Homing Attacked him, too.

I looked over at Tails. He was fighting over his wrench with another Badnik near the cliffside. I felt some intervention was needed.

"I got it!" I shouted.

I ran over to the Badnik. During my last few steps, I hopped up and thrusted my legs out in front of me, pushing the bot over the cliff. Sadly, I forgot about how much momentum I had built up and started to fly over the cliff. I may have yelped a little *ahem* but I caught sight of Tails's wrench, so I swiped it from the air. Just at the last second, Tails grabbed the wrench. He was lying down on the cliff, his arm shot out over the edge. I was just hanging.

"Thanks," I said with relief.

At least I didn't fall over into dangerous tides… though some people say they weren't dangerous. But those people aren't afraid of water.

"I owe you one."

Tails hoisted me up onto land.

"Heh," he chuckled, "More than one. A lot more than one."

I hadn't an idea what he meant at the time, but now I think he was referencing all those times I left him behind when I ran. Apparently, he always found himself getting hurt a lot during those adventures. Well, at least he wasn't getting hurt here… at the moment. But that's a different subject.

I looked back at the shrine with Tails and found Knuckles beating up the last battalion of Badniks. Tails and I decided to join him.

Knux hopped over one bot and grabbed the next one. He threw it into the previous bot, but was knocked back by the explosion. Falling to the ground, he became face to face with the last mech. I was surprised he even got the last few mechs with guns destroyed. Now, only one was left. Congrats on that one, Knux.

Knuckles flinched as the foot came down on him. However, a wrench was thrown straight at the mech's front and got stuck, taking away his balance. I attempted another hop-kick, like the one I did to help Tails, but I was knocked aside by its gargantuan arms. Tails grabbed the wrench, but was kicked back, pulling the wrench out of the Badnik. It turned to me and looked like he was about to attack, but Knuckles stood up and challenged it.

He shouted at it, "Hey, you! Yeah, that's right! I'm talking to you! You think you're tough? Well, face ME if you're a true Badnik and not just a bag of bolts!"

I looked up to see the two in a stare-down of sorts. It was like those old wild-west films. I felt the black bars on the top and bottom shrink, their eyes squint, and their fingers move rhythmically (even though the bot didn't have fingers and Knuckles's fingers weren't technically visible). Then I heard Knux take a sniff in.

He then charged, working up some strength in his right arm. He was gaining momentum from his speed, already powering up his shot. He was shouting as he ran, almost like the last survivor of a… oh, wait.

Even as he got close, the bot wasn't fazed. It just stood there, motionless… which was not a good sign. I could already see it planning its retaliation, scanning Knuckles for any sort of weakness. I had a feeling it was gonna get ugly.

Knuckles's fist came through, sailing through the air. It looked like a good one, too. But as the fist came forth, the… unexpected happened. The bot simply swerved its hand to the right and then swung to its right as Knuckles neared it. Knux was instantly flung into the rocky wall behind me.

I had now been standing turning back to the mech. It turned to me and began to rev up its gun. I looked down at my right hand; Shadow's ring was still with me. I raised my hand to my shoulder.

"If it ain't broke…" I began, "…we might as well actually break it."

I swung, and the spears sailed straight at the Badnik. It collapsed, blew up, and pieces fell down in a blaze of… rusty parts (May not have a ring to it, but who cares?).

I walked over to Knux and lended him a hand. He gave this "Why didn't you try that before?" look. Honestly, I wouldn't know the answer. He took my hand, anyway. Tails joined us.

"That was hectic." He stated.

"Duly noted," I replied, "So what do we do now?"

Just then, one piece of the mech began to blink with a red light. I motioned for the others to come with me. As I neared the piece, I noticed hat the light was coming from a button.

"How is it still working?" Knuckles asked.

He had a good point. The whole mech blew apart and this is all that survives?

I moved my hand towards the button. Taking a look back at Tails and Knuckles, they were prepared to run if this meant: BOOM! I closed my eyes and prepared to experience only slight force from the blast. I pressed it.

Thankfully, it wasn't an explosion that greeted us. Instead, we got a message from Robotnik.

"You think you're done with me?" He asked us, certain our answer wouldn't be logical.

"Well, if this is all you brought from your circus over at your secret base…" I joked.

He chuckled.

"You're funny, Sonic. No wonder you've lived so long. But you won't once I have all 7 of 'them'."

"Ugh. The Chaos Emeralds? Again? Why are they so important?"

"Don't ask me! I don't know much else besides their grand power! It's the perfect source. Anyways, I will get them all, and there's no way you'll stop me! Ho ho ho!"

The message ended. We made sure that Ro-butt-nik wasn't able to ease-drop on us at all (Tails smashed the button with his wrench). I turned to Knuckles for answers.

"Well," he tried to explain, "The Emeralds have been in most of the prophecies."

"But why weren't they mentioned in this one?" I asked.

"Maybe the early echidnas didn't know of the Chaos Emeralds at the time."

"Wait, then how did they know I'd have them in other three prophecies?"

"They must've been made before we discovered the Emeralds."

I decided to believe that for now. That cleared things up in that area for the time being. But then Tails asked an even better question.

"Where are the Emeralds, anyway?"

Knuckles, Tails, and I thought about this for a second. We hadn't seen the Emeralds since time came back to its normal state. It seemed ironic that, even after restoring them into existence, they'd gone missing again. Knuckles decided to speak up.

"We may not know where they are now, but don't you have a gadget that could help us with this?"

"Yeah, but it's been a while since I've used it. It may not be as effective as it was before."

"It's better than what we had thirty seconds ago." I pointed out. "Where is it?"

"Down at my workshop. I'll fly us down there."

We began to make our way to the cliff

"Things are looking up." Knuckles said.

"We can only hope this actually works. Otherwise, it'd be the second fluke in my life."

"What was the first?"

"Meeting you. Nah, I'm kidding! I'm so kiddi-I'm sorry. Didn't mean anything by it."

* * *

><p>We all gathered in the second floor of Tails's workshop. Knux sat the bed while Tails sat in his computer chair. I was simply pacing around the room, near the stairs.<p>

"Okay," Tails said after five minutes of searching, 'I found it."

Knuckles and I were relieved. We thought it'd be buried beneath stacks and stacks of inventions, at least two hours worth. That was much better.

"It still work?" Knuckles asked.

"Let me see… yep."

Knuckles and I smirked and high-fived. First time we really did that… and probably the last.

"Wait a minute!" Tails announced.

Knux and I remained silent. Any problem with that thing could jeopardize our hopes of victory.

"It's… actually picking up a signal?"

"WHAT?" Knux and I yelled.

We scurried to either of Tails's shoulders. The invention was like a timer watch, except bigger. It had a big square screen which had a satellite photo of South Island. Tails could use this to detect the Emerald signatures across the island. Usually, the Chaos Emeralds ended up on South Island. There were times, however, when they were in the most convoluted spaces you could think of.

"Where?" Knuckles asked, "Where's it comin' from?"

"It looks like the far right of the island," Tails answered, "I wonder where that could be?"

"Wait," I demanded, "What place did we go after the ARK?"

"I believe we searched through a city for Robotnik, but we didn't find him," Tails answered.

"Now, tell me where on the island the city was?"

"It was on the right… oh!"

"What was the name of it?"

"You should know you were with us."

"For a while. I had to get back to the island as soon as possible."

"What was the name?" Tails asked impatiently.

"Wait! I've got it! It was the Grand Metropolis."

"Ah!" Tails and Knuckles exclaimed.

Surprised they didn't remember. After we had all escaped the ARK, we had begun to search for Robotnik once again. We tried Grand Metropolis, but that didn't turn up anything. We searched and searched, but later found out that Robotnik had sent another fleet into space. All that searching for nothing.

"So we're headed to the Grand Metropolis?" Knuckles asked.

"Guys," Tails stated, "Unless this thing is just going wacko, we may have a place to start our search for the Emeralds."

"Well then," I said, "Let's get some gear and head out! Finally, some excitement!"

"And Fang wasn't exciting enough?" Knuckles pointed out.

"That was absolutely traumatic and I had no idea it'd turn out that way. This, however, is about to turn the odds into our favor!"

Heh. If only I knew what I was getting us all into.

* * *

><p>It's here (and only a day or so after Chapter VII came out)! I plan on starting the second act of our story: <strong>The Chaos Emerald Search<strong>. I'll update the chapters to have Act 1 in them after this is released. Now, onto special thanks!

DIM666- Thanks for the Grand Metropolis suggestion. I've decided to put it to good use. And also, thanks for the support. You're probably the one person I've seen reading this and is really into it. Your first review proves it. Keep up the support. It helps me feel like I'm doing well.

sonicman24- well, Silver's here… and Shadow was referenced as dead from the ARK battle in Chapter III. Sorry about that. But Silver was planned to be in here, anyway. So that's taken care of. Thanks for the suggestions.

And guys, keep sending in stage and character requests. I've only had two (the ones above), but I'd like more. I want you guys to have fun and interact with the story and what Sonic and the others experience here. You can either request in the reviews or PM me. Either way works for me. The requests will definitely help me with the second act. You'll see why. Chapter IX will be up by either Friday or Saturday. Read ya later!


	10. Gearing For The Grand

**Act II/Chapter IX: Gearing For The Grand**

I remember a few years ago for my 15th birthday, Sally had given me something. She gave me a little brown leather backpack. I asked why she gave it to me, and she told me it'd help with my adventures. I never thought I'd say this, but she was right.

I only wore it a couple times as casual wear before. I know it's disgraceful that I was given a gift, but squandered it. But when we heard that an Emerald was in Grand Metropolis, I had to use something.

Tails opened a cabinet downstairs. It was full of different contraptions.

"I still have your upgrades from our Chaos and ARK adventures,' He explained.

To think that Tails had kept those little things was beyond me. I was just glad I didn't have only two powers to use. We all snatched our little do-hickeys from the cabinet. I had these green lights for my shoes, which granted the Light Speed Dash, a Crystal Ring, decreasing the Light Speed Dash power-up period, and the Flame Ring, which basically let me do a fiery Spindash.

Tails got his jet anklets. He got them somewhere in Station Square a few years ago. That city is still being repaired from the Chaos attack. Anyways, these anklets helped Tails fly further, faster, and higher than he could before. He also got this canon which used to be attached to his old tornado (the one that I trashed… unintentionally, I might add!). He was able to configure it to fit around his hand. Think of it as a Mega Man blaster, except it's mainly red.

Knuckles got the Shovel Claws back. He used those to get deep down underground. Speaking of him going underground, it reminds me of how we met: he popped out of the dirt and punched me in the face. Wasn't very nice. Besides that, he also got the Fighting Gloves (clever name, right?). No, but, really, it helped Knux in combat to the point where he could basically do a series of punches on a chain of enemies. It was like my Homing Attack, but instead of his feet, he used his fists. Nifty, huh?

We all got suited up. I got Sally's backpack (I call it the "SatAm" pack, 'cause Sal gave it to me on the Saturday morning of that 12th birthday) and the other upgrades. I gathered with the others.

"So what's our first move?" I asked.

Silence.

"Oh, yeah," Knuckles mumbled.

Tails ended up explaining what we would ultimately do.

"First, we'll land somewhere near the Emerald's signature."

"Where's that?"

"From the geographical standpoint, within a tower of sorts."

"Coincidence?" Knuckles asked jokingly, "I think not."

I had to chuckle at that. A sarcastic and joking Knuckles is the best kind of Knuckles.

"After that, we'll enter the tower and search for it."

"Question," I stated, "Why are there no forces mentioned thus far?"

"Well, I'm not picking up enemy readings here."

"Tails," Knux commented, "it's an energy reader, not an enemy reader."

Tails squinted at Knuckles. Tails knew Knux was speaking of the Emerald radar.

"I'm aware of that," He responded, "but I was talking about my computer upstairs."

"Oh." Knuckles mumbled.

"It has a radar component. I haven't seen anything yet."

"Well, while that seems too good to be true," I stated, "it's best to go ahead and do it. I mean, we're gonna have to get that Emerald anyway."

"Good point." Knuckles concurred.

"Awesome," Tails said, "so then we'll land and swoop into the tower and snatch the Emerald. Simple as that."

"I still think of it as a coincidence," I said, "Why no enemies? You'd think that, with an ancient mystical power hidden in the city, someone was bound to guard it for their sake."

"Well, I guess we'll find out. Even if it is some sort of trap or ambush, we have these upgrades to aid us, right?"

"Actually," Knuckles asked, "How do we get to Grand Metropolis?"

"We can run." I pointed out.

"No, we can't." Knuckles explained. "Remember when we went their last time and the power plants nearly burnt us alive? Well, from reports I've seen, those chemicals have contaminated the city's lower levels. People are living way in those skyscrapers. No ground left to run on, no way up-."

"Except by plane." I finished, turning to Tails "Which we don't currently have."

"I can fly you there." Tails stated.

"You could barely get us three quarters to Angel Island. I don't think you would last such a long time in the air. The ground area decimated by the chemicals is about two thirds of a mile."

"I didn't mean flying with just me."

Knuckles and I were confused. What'd he mean?

"I didn't have the chance to fully test it, but it's our best chance of getting up to Grand Metropolis."

"You mean…" Knux and I asked.

"Yeah, I do."

* * *

><p>It was a new plane. It looked like Tails first plane, which was technically my plane, but with certain modifications.<p>

"It has laser guns." Tails explained. "They have the same functionality as machine turrets would. But I wouldn't want to be too lethal with our methods."

"Agreed," said Knux, who, ironically, is the guy who loved to pulverize things.

"Will it get us to Grand Metropolis and back?" I pointed out.

"Well, like my 'Armor-Pulverizer', it is only-." Tails began

"Wait," Knux interrupted, "The 'Armor Pulverizer'?"

"It's a little experiment of Tails's," I explained, "to test how to efficiently blow robotic and metallic armor clean off of its user."

"Yes." Tails continued, clearing his throat. "Like I said before, this is only a prototype, so it may still have some bugs."

"Well, we'll take it easy on it," Knuckles decided.

"That works with me," I said. "No fancy moves and we'll be good."

"And don't worry." Tails added. "If we need it again, I'll be sure to have it upgraded. I'm not saying it'll be the final product when we're done, but it will definitely be improved."

"Check on that!" I said, "Now let's get going before Ro-butt-nik can find some Emeralds."

Did I mention that there was a secret tunnel buried beneath the cliff of Tails's workshop? I guess not. Well, that's where we were. Tails had an elevator on the right side of his balcony (I'm sure I didn't explain that either) that leads to the open space of his laboratory. It was where Tails created most of the blueprints, prototypes, and final drafts of his inventions.

Speaking of which, I never saw the new plane coming… at all. I mean, I kept thinking about why we didn't use one, but I never expected Tails to build a prototype of something and keep it a secret from me. Well, then again, I guess it was meant to be a surprise. Makes sense, considering Tails was always full of surprises (such as… I don't know… flying with his two tails?).

Anyways, there's this big underground runway attached to that area, leading out of the cliff structure and into flight. If I were the architect, I would have picked a spot with a waterfall hiding the entrance, but I guess that'd make the plane malfunction when it entered and left. Heh, shows how much I know about science (although Tails would argue that it was common knowledge… he always did that).

I asked what Tails would name the plane. Not that surprisingly, he named the… Tornado-III. Quite normal and bland, quite like the last two (the Tornado and the Tornado-II… great names, right?).

Tails, being the high-flyer of the group, took the cockpit. Knuckles took the seat behind him. The same kind of seat, just without the controls in front in it. I, however, took the top of the wings, because I like to… wait, I think I talked about this before. If not, then correct me.

As soon as we began to move, I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me… which almost made me unaware of our speed. I almost fell off. It'd been a while since I'd flown on a plane, specifically Tails's. To stand on the wings once again brought me back to our chases with the Egg Carrier. *sigh*… Good times.

We then zoomed out of the exit, rocketing away from the workshop. I couldn't believe it. It was another adventure, but in our time period once again. I've had two time-bending adventures already. I did not want a third one. By the way, for anyone who wanted to know, I'm 17 at this point.

After passing over the beginnings of the contaminated levels of Grand Metropolis, which took half an hour to get to, I turned my head back to Tails.

"I hope you're right about the enemies, lil' bro."

"Sonic, we have the upgrades." He replied. "We can fight them."

"Yeah, but the plane can't. We agreed for no sudden movements. What if there ARE enemies there? What if they SHOOT at us? What'll we do then?"

"Sonic, you have to remember our past adventures: no matter what happened, we always won."

"Tails, I like that attitude. Really, I do, but who said this wouldn't be the time we mess up?"

"Sonic?"

"What if this time, we nearly lose everything we had to begin with?"

"Sonic!"

"What if this time, our attempts at gaining the Emeralds end in fail-?"

BOOM!

The right wing flew off down to the ground. I turned back to the front. But then I saw it, the place I first searched for Robotnik before the world broke into the pieces. It still was green oddly enough. Yeah, if you don't realize it already, we arrived at Grand Metropolis.

During those few seconds of silence, I indulged in the city: The buildings stood tall and wide. The city itself was at least a little less than a mile. It wasn't really even a candidate for the capital. IT never really seemed to be important. While it was quite industrialized, it never quite felt like a city. But… I can't decide what's a street, city, or state. I can only wonder what King Maximillian thought when he chose to make a factory-based city.

I looked below. The city had moved far off the ground. I guess it built on top of itself since the contamination. Somehow, it was being supported above the ground. I couldn't tell for sure.

Suddenly, my train of thought broke again, as the plane took another hit.

"What's hitting us?" I shouted back to Tails.

"I'm detecting multiple enemy signatures," he replied, "all hostile!"

"Of course they're hostile! Why wouldn't they be?"

"What do we do?" Knux asked frantically.

"The next worst thing!" Tails shouted back.

"Don't do it!" I said quickly, but it'd been done before I finished.

Tails did a barrel roll to the right. Bullets came blazing at us, nearly ripping through the plane. The plane, though it lost one wing and nearly grazed Knux, was still flying on a linear path.

"How is this still working?"

"I honestly don't know!"

"Well, that's just-!"

My feet suddenly slid off the wings. Almost about to fly off into the winds, I latched onto the front edge of the wings. Bullets, bullets, grazing every plate, blowing past each propeller, grip being lost, vision blurring. It was happening too fast (weirdly enough).

Lost grip of right hand, with bullets flying. Now missiles came into the fray! Missiles, simply blowing the back parts of the plane away, whirling off to the ground. Ducking my head, losing my grip, stuck in frenzy, all happening too fast for my liking.

I let go, can't take it no more, I have to leave. Tails latches onto my left hand, still in the cockpit, now losing control. Plane is spinning, Knux is gone (even though that happens a lot when planes and ships crash with him on them), Tails won't let go, wants me to survive, can't hold on.

Bullets keep firing, left arm gets shot, lose my grip altogether. Tails shouts my name, I begin to lose consciousness, missiles keep firing, plane doesn't explode from what I see, I keep falling, falling, breathing heavily, and suddenly black out. Completely… out.

I know I just hit you with the fastest plane crash ever, but believe me on this one: things get much more interesting.

* * *

><p>I awoke in a dark room of sorts, full of old factory gears and machines. Seemed like a junkyard room. As I began to make out more shapes, I noticed that neither Tails nor Knuckles were with me. I tried to move, but I had rope tied around my wrists and ankles, so I couldn't move. It all seemed very peculiar.<p>

And then, a little ways in front of me, a door opened with light. I squinted at the sudden sight, but then it released its vibrant grip on my eyes. I then saw a figure appear before me… one that seemed quite familiar.

That's when I knew who it was. It was…

* * *

><p><strong>That's where you come in, guys! Who is the mysterious individual behind Sonic's captivity? That's for you to decide! It can be someone from the Classic, Dreamcast, or Modern era (as long as they aren't already in or referenced in the story before and fit with the scenario in some sort of way). Please leave your votes in the reviews or PM me. I've been thinking about it, but I can't pinpoint who would fit this role. Please, if you can bring new characters to the table here, it will most definitely be an interesting story. Read ya later!<strong>


	11. The Grand Chase

**Act II/Chapter X: The Grand Chase**

…a robot? I was lost with this one. I had met a bot, called Gamma, that had the colors of this robot, which were red and black, but he apparently went missing. This one was also carrying a bigger body mass and had thick legs. This was definitely not Gamma.

"Analyzing…" it said.

His voice was quite deep for a robot.

"Target: Hedgehog." It continued. "Movement Speed: Super Sonic. Hostility: … Plausible."

"Hey!" I shouted.

"Target has second trait: Obnoxious Attitude."

"Are you gonna keep making fun of me or are we getting somewhere?"

Suddenly, I heard a bang from above. Looking up to the wall behind me, I noticed a vent cover bolted to the wall. And it was being beaten from the inside? Who was crawling around up there? Tails, Knuckles maybe? Highly unlikely. Tails didn't like crammed spaces, and Knuckles was a tad too big for the vent's sake.

The vent instantly flew out into the robot's face (He actually had one. He wasn't shaped like any other Badnik I'd seen). Out of the vent came… well, I never got a good look at it at first. It jumped out and wrestled the bot to the ground. The robot knocked it through the doorway and went through. He then closed the door on me. I had no idea what just took place.

I had to figure a way out of here. If you were stuck in a room of rotting gears and spare machine parts, you'd want to leave, too. I looked at the knots of rope gripping my wrists and ankles. How could a robot tie me up? I never would have thought of it. Anyways, I looked within the knots to actually look at my wrists. I still had my upgrades. How convenient.

I noticed I had the Flame Ring, which helped me do a fiery Spindash. I guessed that was my best way out of here. I moved my hands as far as I could to my forehead and tucked my knees in as well. I generated some energy within me to create the Spindash force. Whenever I wore the Flame Ring, it automatically registered my created energy and implemented a flame chemical into the mix. I suddenly began spinning faster than you could say this sentence… obviously.

The rope broke off of the wall. The knots were still hanging onto my arms and legs. I felt like an escaped convict. Reminded me of my escape from the city, but that ended with me getting caught again. I was determined to let myself not get caught this time.

I thought about using the door, but those two things were probably fighting on the other side. I decided to try the vent. It wasn't too high; it was probably eight feet off the ground. I jumped up and grabbed the edge of the vent. I climbed up into it. As I climbed up, I heard some banging against the door. Those two were using the environment in that fight… and I didn't want to be near it.

Crawling through that vent felt… different. I never really crawled through vents often. I was always running in an open space. Not only that, but I didn't even know the layout of the building was in. I hadn't an idea of where to go.

Just then, my communicator beeped. I opened the call.

"Tails?" I asked, "Is that you?"

"It's Knuckles, actually." He said.

"Knux! Where's Tails?"

"I don't know! I'm completely lost."

Just then, I remembered the crash.

"Wait, during the crash… where'd you go?"

"Something must've snatched me. I instantly fought back and began to fall. I glided to safety."

"Where are you now?"

"I glided to the lower portions of the city. Not the contaminated levels, but just high enough above them to not have side effects."

"How convenient that you're in a calm place."

"What're you talkin' about calm? I got bombarded by a squadron of Badniks a few moments ago!"

"Robotnik."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Something tells me that he knew we'd come here."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"We've got to get that Emerald before he does."

"We were here to do that, anyway. Do you have any idea where Tails is, though?"

"I don't know. I haven't been able to set up any connection to his communicator."

I had now ended at a dead end, but had a long tunnel of vent above me. I began to shimmy up the shaft.

"Are you trying to get to the surface?"

"The best way I can. Are you?"

"Well, I'm stuck in a ventilation shaft, in a building I don't even know the exits for. I'm trying to head up, but I don't know if it leads me to the city."

"Let me know if you find Tails."

"You too."

Knux hung up, as did I.

I swear, climbing in vents really sucks. I mean, I'm fine with running around in closed spaces, like those tubes at Robotnik's chemical plant, but to physically slow down and crawl in them just sucks.

* * *

><p>I later felt a breeze from above… which meant something good. I finally reached a ledge, which led to another tunnel. Fortunately, this one had a vent cover at the end of it. I sighed in relief. No more climbing in vents was fine with me. I crawled over to the cover and kicked it down with my legs. The cover flew off and I dropped out of the vent.<p>

I landed on some sort of green metal. As I looked up, I saw what I'd been aiming for: Grand Metropolis at its finest. While full of green, metallic buildings, there were still other buildings with red, silver, or even light blue coverings. I eyed the cars flying across the vista. Remember when I mentioned that Grand Metropolis was quite industrialized? Well, that's more of an understatement. When you have a city suspended in the air and cars with boosters flying in the skyline, the word "industrialized" gets a whole new meaning.

I was only looking upon all of this for a couple seconds when I heard an explosion from my right. As soon as I looked, I saw another one of those flying cars flaming on its side! It flew bumper first into the building which I stood on. It rolled across the roof, past my left side, but stopped before falling off the edge.

Some cars began to fly beyond the street boundaries because of something behind them. As I concentrated on that end of the road, I got rammed in the back of the head. I fell to the roof, trying to get my wits back. I saw a big floating pod (sort of like a futuristic truck) lowering itself onto the roof. Soon, another one joined it. Once they landed, three latches on the each pod slammed into the ground and sank in deep, acting as an anchor. The doors of each opened, revealing squads of Badniks.

The strange thing was that these pods didn't look like Robotnik's pods. There were no symbols or machinery that even suggested. In fact, they looked crudely made, but somehow efficient. I knew Robotnik was pretty smart on the scientific side, but to make drop-pods like this seemed weird at the time.

The bots, however, seemed quite like Ro-butt-nik's. The design seemed like your general Badnik. However, something I noticed right off the bat: they weren't speaking a word! Usually, Robotnik's robots are shouting random things or making weird noises. These ones weren't. Whatever the doctor had up his sleeve was quite… confusing.

To take these guys down was plain simple, however. I just Homing Attacked each of them. After they blew into pieces, I inspected the city's streets more. The streets aren't streets like you and I know them to be. They're more of horizontal poles running parallel to each other, insisting on setting up boundaries for the flying cars and what not.

Just then, my communicator beeped again.

"Knuckles?" I answered.

"Where are you?" He yelled.

He sounded quite infuriated.

"I'm up in the city. You?"

"Still underground, being attacked by this giant robot thing, along with some other Badniks."

"Are they fighting each other at all?"

"No. They're working in unison."

"But that big one isn't like the other Badniks."

"You've seen this hunk of junk before?"

"When I woke up only a few minutes ago."

"Jeez. Have you found Tails?"

"Nope. I just got outside. Maybe he's around here somewhere."

"Whoa!"

"Knux, what happened?"

"The bots just shot a big one at me. They blew me into a wall. *cough* I think they're going up."

"Up where?"

"Where do you think? The city itself!"

"Crud. That can't be good."

"Hold on. I think I found someone."

"Is it Tails?"

"Doesn't look like it. Maybe they can help. They're way across a gap, though. I'll try to get across. Keep me posted on your position."

"Will do."

After that, I inspected the city skyline. I checked each rooftop within view for any movement. I hoped to find Tails somewhere up there. Once again, my communicator went off.

"Knux, what'd you do this time?" I asked.

"Sonic?" the high voice asked, in need of help.

"Wait… Tails?"

"Sonic! You're alive!"

"Oh my God. Tails, what happened to you?"

"You tell me. The last time I saw you was while we were crashing."

"Well, I got captured some big bot and I had to escape. I'm hanging on a rooftop now."

"Well, I'm hanging on rooftops, too."

"Where? I don't see you."

"Sonic, this metropolis is grander than it looks. Ha, get it?"

"Good one, lil' bro. What sector are you in?"

"By the Central Shops."

"I'm by…" I began, inspecting the signs around me, "…the Acorn Memorial."

"You're pretty close! Just head on over to my sector. You'll find me."

"Got it. I'm on my-!"

Suddenly, multiple objects flew past the edge of the roof. As I focused my vision on them, I found them to be the big bot and his buds. They armed themselves with cannons of some sort. Of course, I thought it wise to challenge them.

"You really think that you can beat me with lousy cannons? I thought you'd bring more."

Just then, as the other Badniks powered their lasers up, I inspected the big one's. It was charging up a blast bigger than the others. I realized what I just doomed myself to.

As they finished charging, I began running to my left, towards another edge of the building, I heard their shots release. I quickly hopped off and braced myself for any sort of burns. The shots whizzed right by every one of my sides. I literally yelped as they passed.

I sprawled myself out and looked for a landing zone. As soon as I chose the street boundaries to grind on, I instantly was snatched up by the big bot.

It had begun to choke me, attempting to drain my life. I fought to pry its fingers, which proved successful. I latched onto his leg with my right arm. I then decided to call in some assistance.

"Knuckles?" I called into my communicator.

"What's up?"

"Did you get that one guy?"

"First of all, I think it might a girl. Secondly, I didn't get to her in time."

"Is she dead?"

"I don't see any blood where she last was. She must be alive."

"Well, where are you now?"

"I'm in some sort of pipeline area."

Just then, the big bot kicked me off. I landed on a car jut behind it. Using its momentum, I jumped onto one of the street boundaries and began to grind. Cars were whizzing by me on either side

"What exactly do you mean by 'pipeline area'?"

"It has lots of bulky pipes leading up. It might have something to do with those street boundaries."

"You remember those?"

"I even remember those blue gravitational roads. Those things were sick."

"Yeah. Well, we can reminisce about it later. Right now, I need something to stop Big Boy here before he destroys the city."

"He's with you now? Hold on. Give me a minute."

"Gotcha."

I jumped off the rail as I caught up to the big bot. I grabbed onto its back as it tried to wrestle me off.

"What's your name, Big Boy?" I asked.

"Unit E-123, Codename: Omega." It responded.

I didn't think it'd cough it up so easily.

"Why do you ask?" it replied.

"I just wanted to know what to write on your grave!"

That really was NOT a good joke. I mean, how did I think of that? Robots don't have graves? It's just… (so stupid).

As I wrestled with him longer, something weird happened: one of the pipes (street boundaries) spat some sort of gas. Omega (I can finally start calling him that) must've had problems with his systems when he went through it.

I checked up on Knux again.

"Knuckles?" I asked. "Did you do that?"

"What happened?" He answered.

"One of the pipes up here just burst."

"I guess these pipes down here affect the ones up there."

"Perfect! What'd you do to them, anyway?"

"I just punched it a few times."

"Keep doing it. It's starting to slow him down."

Omega threw me over his head. I latched onto his leg at the last possible second.

"Sonic, do you read me?" my communicator called again.

"Tails? What's up?"

"There are a bunch of Badniks here. I can't fight them on my own."

"Don't worry, buddy! I'm almost there."

I attempted to climb up Omega, but he kept resisting, making it harder to get back up.

I began to wonder how close the tower was from there. Then again, everything there was like a tower, so it'd have been hard to differentiate which one.

At one point, Omega got hit by the gas again. Not only did his systems slow down a tad, but he couldn't resist anything for several seconds. I took this chance to limb up his body.

I decided that I was fed up with Omega and just wanted to get this over with. I decided to yank open his robot parts and take away his power supply.

I stuck my fingers in-between his two chest-plates. As I began to pull, I could feel his systems come back online. While his hands began to push me away, he didn't realize he was helping me open his chest up. Once it shot open, Omega couldn't believe he let me past his defenses. Honestly, I was more appalled at his power supply than his worthless defense.

He was being powered by a Chaos Emerald, the same one we read the signal of earlier that day. Now, Omega tried his best to get me off of him, but I thought ahead. I grabbed onto the Emerald in case he did push me off… which he did. I fell onto another car. As I stood, I saw Omega begin to lose his power lights (those little highlights in certain areas that relate to his power level). He began falling below the streets.

I actually felt somewhat bad for the guy. I was sure he meant nothing wrong about it. I mean, he was a robot. I thought maybe someone reprogrammed him. Actually, that's a little far-fetched. Then again, my whole life has been voted as far-fetched by many.

Coincidentally enough, I arrived at the Central Shops. I hopped off the car and landed on one of the rooftops. I then called up Tails.

"Tails, I'm here. Which rooftop are you on, exactly?"

No answer.

"Tails, I know you can hear me. You know I like running, but I'm not a really big fan of running laps around here looking for you."

Still no answer.

"Tails… you're there, right?"

I finally hung up. I was panicking. How far could a little fox go in only a minute? I was almost about to scream when I heard some sort of sound. It sounded like a booster… or a set of boosters.

I turned around and… WHOOSH!

Six badniks, the ones with the cannons from earlier, flew straight over my head, nearly making me fall over the side of the building. After I regained my balance, I heard someone yell,

"Sonic! Help me!"

I turned and looked over the edge. The bots were flying down to one of the streets. As I looked closer, I saw… Tails?

Now it was going too far. First, they shoot down the Tornado-III. Next, they separate us and capture me. Now, they've decided to get Tails? It was not going down like that.

I hopped off the side of the building.

"Hang on, lil' bro!" I yelled out to him, "I'm coming!"

I fell off, down into the many and fast cars below.

* * *

><p><strong>The end of another chapter! I'm excited. This is one of my favorite story arcs in the book so far, alongside the Fang one. Okay, guys, sorry about uploading it this late. I was writing this weekend, but I was also fitting in other extracurricular things in as well. Good news, however, is that Chapter X is finally up! Now, onto the mediocre news (not exactly bad).<strong>

**Tomorrow (3-26-12), I'll be getting a game called Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. I used to have this game, but I must've lost it. I decided to order it again. It's been a couple years since I played, so I want to start from scratch. Just to learn the game again. Sadly, Broken Dreams will be on hiatus for 5 days or so. I want to get as far as I can in the game. Once I get within that day range and save at a nice spot, I'll continue writing. I'm not stopping Broken Dreams. I'm simply taking a little break to play a game I haven't played in (what seems like) forever! Sorry to leave you guys with a cliffhanger, but it helps keep you on your toes for the next chapter.**

**How'd you guys like my introduction of Omega? In my opinion, quite hilarious. Who is this girl running around the underground (rhetorical)? Will Sonic, Tails, and Knux get back together? Will they succeed in leaving Grand Metropolis? Find out in Chapter XI. Read ya later!**


	12. Reunited For A Common Escape

**Act II/Chapter XI: Reunited For A Common Escape**

I never actually explained how the light speed dash works, did I? Well, here's the thing: I can only use it when there's a path of rings in front of me. At least, that's what some reporters said about me back then. I'm about to prove them wrong.

Think of the Light Speed Dash as a Homing Attack in some ways, but not as lethal. What happens is this: the Homing module in my shoes connects with the green Light Speed Dash modules on the backs of my shoes. The Light Speed Dash, whether in mid-air or on the ground, sends me off in one direction, letting me cross gaps I wouldn't have been able to cross before.

The Crystal Ring, on my left wrist, helps with this. Normally, The LSD would take a good five seconds to power-up. With the Crystal Ring added, it shaves off three seconds of that power-up state. This has helped me in many situations in the past, like the one I'm in now.

As I fell into the streets below, I never realized that what I was doing was gonna be difficult. I'd never been in such a high-octane chase like this since the ARK, when I had to fight Shadow. Every step was met with Chaos Spears from my enemy… who I then had to work with… how ironic.

Luckily, I landed on a car… a moving car (Sorry, innocent civilian). As I stood, I noticed that I had landed in a long floating road, with many cars flying at high speeds. I looked further ahead and saw the Badniks that were escorting Tails out of my reach. Not on my watch.

I knew it was a stupid idea, but I did it anyway. I sprinted off of one car and latched onto the other. As I climbed, I heard a robotic voice go, "Target detected at anterior. Must confront." After I had cursed myself for being so noticeable, I hopped from car to car. I missed landings on some cars, but I was able to grapple onto most at the last second.

As I rose on top of the fifth car, I heard a shot whiz by my head. I looked back to see a rocket flying off into the distant horizon. Looking forward, I saw at least two or three bots with rocket launchers. Why did I have to be the one in a pickle?

Hopping to the next car, I felt another rocket go by. These Badniks weren't backing down. As I jumped from car to car, each rocket missed me, either flying off into a building or destroying another car behind me. When the cars started to get blown away by these rockets, I knew I had to pick a new method and fast. I may still not believe I wanted to be a hero, but someone had to be for the time being. I looked for other possible methods for getting Tails back.

I then remembered my LSD upgrades and decided on a way to incorporate them here. Taking note of an enemy flying only several feet away from me, I jumped off the car. Although I remembered my LSD, I didn't want to use it (yet). I Homing Attacked it with grace. Locking my vision onto my next target, I Homing Attacked it. I began a Homing Chain that lasted four more Badniks. Launching off of one on my right, I ended up falling towards the center of the road.

As I fell, I noticed one last Badnik. This one had Tails. How would I know that? Well, I did see two arms and legs squirming for freedom. Had to be Tails. Anyways, I looked at how far I was from it: fifteen feet, straight in front of me. But I decided to narrow that down a little bit.

Harnessing the LSD's power, a mix of the Crystal Ring's reduction and my Homing Module's effectiveness, my body instantly shot off like a rocket. Back then, I used to need rings to do the LSD, but now I've been able to harness energy from within myself into LSD currents. This new mix sends me off at incredible speeds and launches me quite a distance in a desired direction.

Once the LSD ended, I was now a foot away from the Badnik. At the last second, I grabbed onto its back. However, it reacted differently than I suspected. Instead of wondering what the heck happened for the next ten seconds, it instantly swung at its back. Luckily, I pressed my legs against its back and kicked them off, narrowly missing his swinging arm. Now dangling from its back again, I swung myself to the left, grabbing its front. With the little momentum I had, I kicked him away from me. Before I did that, I lent a hand to Tails. He grabbed on, and when that robot fell back into traffic, I felt sorry for the drivers.

My lil' bro grabbed both of my hands and began to fly us up to a flat rooftop. I was exhilarated, excited, and lucky. Once we landed, Tails and I began to cool ourselves down.

"That was," I began, breathing heavily, "a heck of a drop, huh?"

"Didn't think you'd make it in time,' Tails commented, breathing heavily as well.

"Hey… do you know who you're talkin' to?"

"Heh. I guess I didn't."

Suddenly, our communicators started beeping. Tails answered it.

"Hello?" Tails answered.

"Sonic?" the caller shouted.

It was Knuckles.

"Knux," I yelled out, "What's up?"

"I think I'm stuck!"

"Knuckles? Stuck? Underground? Glitch!"

"Where are you, exactly?" Tails asked.

"Tails?" Knux said, astounded. "Oh, thank god you here! I thought you left!"

"Well, not yet. But we will soon."

"Sounds good to me." I stated.

"Where are you?" Tails asked again.

"Somewhere down in the lower levels. I think it might be somewhere near the power plant, but don't quote me on that."

"We'll take your word for it." I said. "Just stay where you are and we'll find you."

"Good to know.' Knux commented. "See you when you get here."

"You too." I said.

Tails and I looked at each other.

"Where's the power plant again?" we asked in unison.

We both face-palmed.

After a good 12 minutes of searching, I came across this set of buildings. At its center was a tower. Around that were five buildings, each enclosing access to the tower's ground to those within the structure.

"The power plant has definitely gotten smaller," I pointed out.

"And less convoluted," Tails added on. "Half the time we were in there before, my head was spinning."

"Hey, that's nothing compared to when I learned about the Spindash. All that spinning… it didn't bode well with my stomach."

"I know. I was there. That was way back when you had the 'chili dog diet'."

"It wasn't… actually, it isn't just a diet."

"You're still keeping with it?"

"And getting good exercise. You'd be surprised how much I've lost: 40 pounds!"

"And this is over the course of…?"

"About three years."

"Impressive?"

"Darn right."

I sat on the edge of the building we were looking from.

"I'm surprised I'm even attempting to keep it up, given what's happened."

"Yeah, I know. First Sally, then Shadow, and then Blaze, and even Mighty. Why are we losing our friends so quickly?"

"You know what?"

Tails looked at me with a look of knowledgeableness… if that's a word.

"Maybe Robotnik is trying to overwhelm us. Maybe he wants us to see that no matter what we do, we're gonna lose people. This may be the first time I've ever said this… but I don't think everyone will survive this journey."

"Sonic, are you…?"

"I'm not trying to doubt us. I just have a feeling that Robotnik wants us to finally face the fact that no matter how hard we try, we can't save them all."

"Are you saying this about Knuckles, too?"

I looked over at the power plant, wishing I could Knux walk right on out.

"No. I don't think we've reached the point where people WILL die. I think we're only at the point where death seems plausible."

"Why is it only plausible?"

I looked at Tails with a smirk.

"'Cause I'm still here."

"Well, since you're now recognized as the solution, why don't we go save Knuckles?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

We flew down to one of the five buildings. At that point, I believed in an easier course of action.

"Tails,' I asked, "Try to land on the roof."

"Why?" he asked.

"So we don't have to deal with the robots in these buildings like last time."

"Those were Robotnik's, remember?"

"Even so, I don't want to risk it. Besides, it gets us closer to the tower."

We landed on the roof and looked over the edge towards the tower. There was a little gap between the tower and the building. The only thing I saw that was close enough to the ground between them was a holographic walkway. Once again, Grand Metropolis was extremely industrialized.

I looked over at Tails. He gave me this look of disgust.

"I'm not going down there!" he proclaimed.

"Tails, you can fly."

"But I'm afraid of the dark!"

I face-palmed. He was a scientific genius… and yet he was scared of flying twenty-five feet down to a walkway and go through the connected door… all in a matter of about six seconds! I swear, this kid… he drove me nuts sometimes.

In the end (I don't really remember how I did it), I was able to get him to head down with me. We landed on the walkway and proceeded through the door to the tower.

When I entered the tower (which was green, surprisingly), I noticed it design: an average hallway leading to a very, very tall room. A winding staircase accompanied the wall as I scanned the tower's insides. I looked across the bottom of the wall for any sort of doorway leading down.

"Where's Knuckles?" Tails asked.

"Well, he said that he was far underground," I replied, "or something to that effect. Can you call him?"

"How is there even any reception down there?"

"It's a power plant; it's probably so industrialized that calls can be given and received throughout."

"That sounds a little too good to be true."

"That's the closest thing to the truth right now. Besides, we're here to get Knuckles, not to question technology."

Tails punched in Knux's communicator code. That's how Tails and Knux kept giving me calls. They'd press in a certain code that would represent our communicators. It acted as a secure frequency.

"Knuckles? Are you there?"

"Guys, where are you?" he shouted.

He sounded distressed.

"Knuckles, what's going on down there?"

"I don't know this for sure, but I think the acid level is rising."

"What? What do you mean?"

"This building is the closest thing to the hazardous levels below the city. I think something entered the chemicals and has made it erupt to the point where it's rising upwards!"

"Knux," I began, "Remember when I said, 'Stay where you are,'?"

"Yeah."

"Well, forget that! Get the heck out of there! You gotta juice!"

"Got-!"

Static replaced Knux's voice.

"This is bad,' Tails commented, "Really bad!"

"Just don't panic." I commanded, with a bit of panic hidden within me. "Yes, the acid levels are rising, but we'll make it out alive."

"We should at least be near the hallway so we can make it out quickly."

But, as if on cue, a big vibration was sent up through the tower. Almost losing balance, I saw small particles falling from the top of the tower, most likely the material it was made from. Not only that, but pieces of the ceiling came down and clogged up the hall to the exit. Couldn't get out that way.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, stressed as can be.

"I'll think of something."

Suddenly, a piece of the flooring blew open. I honestly almost had a heart attack… until I saw a spiked glove grab onto the blown edges of the floor.

"Guys!" Knux yelled at us. "Are you stupid? RUN!"

Knux pointed us to the staircase to the right of the clogged hall. I almost forgot about that. I ran with him towards our only route out. By the time we had only started running on the stairs, Tails was still trying to retain balance from the sudden shock while running to us.

"Come on, Tails!" I yelled out. "You can run faster than that!"

Just as Tails began running on the staircase, the ground floor completely fell apart. I then saw acid, hazardous acid that was eating away at the tower's structures. That was why everything was rumbling and crumbling; the acid was dissolving the support beams and structural weaknesses unbeknownst to the bots which worked there.

"Everybody move!" Knuckles yelled out over the collapsing tower. We raced up the tower. I could feel every step behind us being eaten up by the acidic presence. Every step we took was another one leading to two directions: freedom or death. You can imagine which one we didn't want.

As we neared the top, I saw an opening, about 3 meters in diameter, opening in the ceiling.

"We're not going there, are we?" I asked.

"Yes we are!" Knuckles replied.

As we neared the last step, I spotted a conveniently placed spring at the end. I recalled doing this last time we escaped a power plant accident like this one last time we arrived. Knuckles went first. He hopped onto the spring and it launched upward through the opening. He caught a ledge of it and climbed up onto the surface.

Tails went next. Although he could fly, he decided to use the spring anyway. He jumped onto it, and he flew to land once he went through.

I was the last. The acid was getting close, but I didn't turn my head to see how close. That would have just freaked me out and put pressure on me (even though I've had enough pressure to last a lifetime). I placed only one foot on the spring and it launched me. However, I only got two feet away from reach. I forgot to put both feet on the spring, just like Knux and Tails had done.

Honestly, it felt like I had screwed up for the final time. It had been a while since this had happened, but that was long ago. This time, I looked down at the acid. It was bright neon green. You could become blind just by looking at it. It was bubbling and ready to fry. Behind my falling mind, I could hear Tails shouting my name. I closed my eyes and waited for the afterlife to welcome me…

…but that didn't happen. One second, I was facing an extreme barbecue. The next, I was caught by something… or someone, rather. At first, I thought I was floating in Purgatory or something. Then I opened my eyes. I was… flying? This didn't seem right. I looked to my left, and I saw her, the woman who had a suave and (at times) sweet attitude. I never thought I'd see after the ARK, but I guess beggars can't be… I mean, predictions aren't always correct.

This woman was a rival to Knux and had a thing for jewels, usually the Chaos Emeralds or the Master Emerald… or both. This woman was known as Rouge the Bat. For some people, they may say they were happy to see her… and with understandable reasons.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait, but at least the chapter is up. I beat Sonic Chronicles, so that's good. It was a pretty good game, actually. If they decide to make a sequel, they'd only have to fix a few little things in the game's exploration and combat system to really improve. But I digress…<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed reading of this new Grand Metropolis, along with the new introductions of Omega and Rouge. If you're wondering about why Sonic never saw Omega before, it's because Sonic Heroes never technically happened in this universe. Sonic and his friends only inspected Grand Metropolis for signs of Robotnik and only found Badniks, but found out he was actually hanging out in space, leading to the opening sequence of Sonic Unleashed.**

**Anyways, keep sending in requests for stages and characters. If you missed Chapter X, go ahead and read it first. I believe it's The Grand Chase. That way, you know what's been going on. Don't forget: Review and request! Read ya later!**


	13. A Way Back & A Chance To Talk

**Act II/Chapter XII: A Way Back & A Chance To Talk**

Rouge flew up through the exit hole before it closed, sealing the burning acid within. She landed on the surface and let me get back on my legs. I looked around. We were at the top of the tower, which was pretty big in diameter when I looked (about twenty-five feet). Oh, and guess what the color of it was? You guessed it: green!

Of course, while I took a 5 second break to absorb my surroundings, Knuckles and Tails were talking to Rouge. Tails spoke logically about the situation and her whereabouts… Knux completely forgot what we just went through and decided to ask her about… well, her.

"Where'd you go after the ARK?" Knuckles asked her.

"Well," Rouge began, "Ever since then, I've felt guilty for my wrong doings. I never planned on turning my back on people like that… at least, at that moment I wasn't. I decided the next best thing for me was to make up for my involvement: become an agent for the government."

"And they just let you do that?" I asked.

"You'd be surprised what these politicians would do. In fact, I've been an agent for the past two years. I remember exploring a forest when the earth was broken in pieces. I swear, you people mess with my missions a lot. You messed up this one, too."

"How?" Tails inquired. "While we did fill a tower with acid and destroy Badniks that nearly blew five to six cars into oblivion, I see no real objective here."

"That's where you're wrong, fox boy. You see, I've been here for a couple months already. I was searching for this bot called-."

"E-123 Omega?" I guessed.

"How'd you know?" Rouge asked, suspicious of my response.

"He… well, IT told me."

"Hm. Anyways, I tracked it down to this very tower. I was about to infiltrate when I heard shouting from above. Looking towards the sky, I saw a plane flying down to the city, with two idiots shouting at each other."

"That was us.' I added.

I then realized I made us look like real idiots saying that.

"I heard turrets and missiles fire off. I realized that even though it was a covert op, I had to keep people safe. I flew up to the plane to get you all out of there. I snatched on of you, but you kicked yourself free and fell down below the city."

"That was me!" Knux answered excitingly.

We all wondered about his sudden energetic outburst.

"How'd you survive?" Tails asked.

"Uh, I can glide! Duh!"

"Yeah," I repeated, "duh."

"Anyways,' Rouge interrupted, "I didn't think I could save you guys if you kept shrugging free, so I waited for a bit. The plane crashed and rolled. Some of it survived, but some parts were lost in the gunfire. One of you guys, most likely the fox, crawled from the wreckage and ran off."

"You ran away?" Knux inquired.

"The badniks were still after me!" Tails explained. "I had to hide! I also had to get to a place where I knew I was safe."

"Why didn't your communicator beep while you were out? I called you three times!"

"If you don't want to get caught, you want to remain as silent as possible. I turned my communicator off as to not alert the bots."

"What happened next?" I asked Rouge.

"I flew down while the bots went searching for fox boy here." She continued. "I found you next to the plane."

"That sounds right." I clarified. "I remember flying down with the plane. Though I was no longer on it, I remember travelling in the same direction."

"Looking at you all beaten gave me an idea. Since I was trying to lure Omega to me for proper arrest, I knew I could use you as bait."

"Wait… so you're the one who tied me up?"

"Yep. I snuck into a tower further away from this plant and I tied into the corner of the floor and the wall. I then crawled back up into the vent to await Omega's arrival."

"How'd you know he'd be there?"

"I placed a high frequency sound chip on you that only certain robots of high-skill grades could hear. The waves could travel at most a mile. Omega was within that wave. He tracked the central point of the wave and found the building. He then came through the window closest to the door."

"I guess that could've woken me up."

"When he came through the door and insulted you, which was funny, if I may add, I kicked the vent into his head and fought with him through the door."

"I remember seeing that."

"We fought and fought for a while. I kicked him into a wall. He slammed me into the door. Finally, he threw me out the window. I then crashed through the window beneath to hide myself."

"Were you hurt?" Knuckles asked her.

"No, I was only grieving in pain from my legs and arms."

"Oh, well, that's good to hear."

"Sometimes, I wonder what real pain is for you"

"So you've been thinking about me?"

"As I was saying?"

"Oh, sorry."

I already knew Knux and Rouge still had something. Knux told me that he saved her life from a great fall. He said that something was still there. His grabbing of her hand in that brief moment was something he never forgot. Now, I could see something was in the air with these two.

"Anyways," Rouge continued, "I followed him to the underground. He plunged the metal plating above the whole system and I followed along. He was firing at someone, most likely this knuckle-head, and they knocked into a wall. He noticed me and whapped me across the far gap into the other open hall."

"So that's who you saw?" I asked Knuckles.

"I knew I was right when I said it was a girl." He stated, professionally.

"I woke up when I heard this guy shouting, 'Hey! Hey, you, over there! Are you alright?' That was my time to book it. At that point, I didn't need help. I flew through the pipeline area. As I soared through, I could hear explosions from above, followed by some honking of car horns."

"That was me fighting Omega. At least, that's happened to begin with."

"I heard the echidna running over here, so I booked it beyond the room into the very bottom of the tower. I flew all the way up to the top. I stood there looking for Omega. Of course, I heard a big crash from below."

"I don't remember that." Tails stated.

"You must not have heard it. A big boom echoed up through the tower. I didn't know what exactly happened, but I assumed that something had gone down there to cause the acid to rise. The next thing I knew, I was hiding up in the darkest corners of the ceiling in the tower, waiting for one of you hooligans to mess up when trying to escape."

"And that brings us to now." Tails finished.

"Yes. But, although I saved your rear ends, I remembered my mission: get Omega out of Grand Metropolis. One of you saw him last. Where did he go?"

I had to fess up on this one.

"He… fell below the streets." I confessed.

"What?" she asked.

"When I finally beat him, he lost all power and began falling down. He must've landed near the acid levels."

"Okay, but how'd the acid rise?"

"Simple," Tails stated, "if you've got it down already like me. Omega must've had certain chemicals in his system to help him do certain actions. If he was powered down, the chemicals would be stored inside. When he landed, and most likely fell apart, his chemicals must've mixed with the acid in a way that made it active. It then began to rise. Omega caused the acid to rise."

"Think about this further." Rouge demanded. "Who was the one who sent Omega down there to even start that chemical reaction?"

They all turned to me.

"Hey, we're all alive!" I pointed out. "Besides, we had to complete OUR mission."

"You?" Rouge asked, "Mission? Never saw that comin'."

"We," I began, pulling the green Chaos Emerald out of my "SatAm" backpack, "were looking for this."

Everyone was shocked. Knux and Tails didn't think I'd gotten it. Honestly, I couldn't believe that I had either. Rouge was appalled at my find. She always had a thing for jewels, as I've said before.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked.

"This was Omega's power source." I answered. "When I took it away, he fell. We've gotten out alive, but even though you didn't get Omega back, we got what we needed."

She couldn't believe it.

"Trust me, if there was any other way to keep Omega, but take away his power source, I would've done it."

"Why'd you want Omega anyway?" Tails asked Rouge.

"The government wanted to find assets that could assist in any future attacks, from Robotnik or other worldly oppositions. We found Omega only a couple days ago, so they sent me to get him. The thing about Omega is this: he despises… despised Robotnik. Although the fat man built him from scratch, which explains his unique design, Omega still didn't like him. He knew what Robotnik had done to the world. He had classified files on his past operations, what he did, and what he knew. He was a living database, mixed with weaponry."

"If he despises Robotnik, then why was he helping his Badniks?"

"Thos weren't Robotnik's… at least not anymore. Omega was tossed to the scrap heap along with those Badniks. The fat man regarded them as 'flawed innovations of a greater army'. Omega persuaded his Badnik friends to rebel against the Doctor. They all escaped and arrived here; at least that's what I assume. He'd always program them each day with the same objective: Defy the Creator."

"How do you know this?"

"I've been spying on them for a few days. Apparently, those little Badniks are such a low-grade in tech that their memory and objective banks empty themselves every time they went into sleep-mode. Omega had set a network that let him communicate to each of them, controlling them."

"If that's the case, then why did he attack us? We clearly look nothing like Robotnik!"

"That was the one flaw of Omega: he had a low-grade of tech that presumed everyone in his sight was his designated target. He must've registered you all as the Doctor. That's why he attacked."

Knux, after getting this long explanation, decided to cut to the chase.

"What'll you do now?" he asked.

"I plan to report back with my findings… or at least the little details I've acquired. I hope they'll understand."

"Wait," I demanded, "How will we get back?"

"Why are you asking me?" she asked.

"Our plane crashed! We have no way back."

"Well, how convenient…"

Knux, Tails, and I were a little confused by that.

"You see, I've been stationed up at a high-rise warehouse. Back there, there are some plane parts, a bit more advanced than what your plane parts were. If you guys can help me get the stuff down here, I'm sure we can get you off of here."

"You weren't kidding when you said 'convenient'." I pointed out. "Where's this warehouse?"

"Shouldn't be too far. In fact, it's somewhat close to your plan's crash site."

"This is way too good to be true." Tails said. "Thanks, Rouge."

"Don't mention it, fox boy."

Tails gave a boyish grin.

"Seriously," Rouge said through gritted teeth, "don't mention it."

Tails shut up for most of the trip after that.

We finally made it to the warehouse. We got all the parts we thought necessary and carried them down to the crash-site. Tails began to mend the new parts onto the plane. I held responsibility for handing him the parts as he fixed each one on.

The plane really didn't suffer much, apart from a broken wing here and a bent propeller there. Tails was able to fit the new parts on quite quickly. Of course, he had ME handing the parts over, but he's the one who actually put them on. The plane looked marvelous. It had some pretty beast engines fit for boosting in the air, wings that seemed longer and thinner, but more agile than the others, and even had a power source for the boost: the Chaos Emerald. We used one as a source before. With the boost component added on, it would do more than power the engine

However, while we were in the middle of putting the plane back together, Knux and Rouge were off a few feet from us. I only remember some of the conversation because I was busy helping Tails, but I'll piece it together the best I can. Obviously, Knuckles brought the conversation topic up.

"Rouge," he asked, "do we still… have something?"

"Red," she replied, "we didn't have anything to begin with."

"But don't you remember that night? We fought and fought, but I saved your life from falling from a beam into a death trap! You don't remember after that? We stared into each other's eyes. Do you know what I saw in yours?"

"I know what I saw: a guy who had no problems hitting a girl."

"I know what I saw too, Rouge: a woman worth fighting for."

I looked back after he said that, and I could've sworn I saw Rouge blush.

Knuckles continued, "It's okay if we don't have anything between us anymore. I can understand. People come into our lives later on that we like more than the others."

"Have you found anyone else?" she asked.

"There may have been a few."

"Well, I'll admit… I haven't seen anyone better than you."

Now, I know I saw Knuckles blush. It seemed strange to me at the time, but then again, cool guys have feelings too (as I've said before).

Then Tails nudged me for the next plane part. I don't recall anymore about the conversation. I could tell something right from the start: they'd be back together. They seemed right for each other… in a way. Knuckles, when I first saw him, looked like he was a ladies' man, just without the girls. Rouge did seem to have feelings towards him, but she'd usually hide them. But I digress.

Now Tails and I were having a conversation. I was scuffling for parts out of this box we all carried down. Tails was busy putting the parts I handed to him onto the plane (as I've said ten million times already).

"How's the plane coming?" I asked.

I was too busy looking for parts to focus on the plane at the moment.

"It's looking good." He answered. "We'll be flying back in no time."

"That's good to hear. I'm tired of all this green."

"Actually, I think it's a bit more aqua than green."

"Are we really gonna get technical about this? Fine, it's a shade of green. Let's put it that way."

"Should only need one more part."

"What would that be?"

"I believe it's one of the wings."

"Gotcha."

"Hey, Sonic?"

I rose from the box with the wing in hand.

"Hm?"

"What you said about death being only plausible and all that stuff…"

"Yes?"

"What will we do if you die?"

I never thought of that, either.

Tails added, "You did say it was plausible because you were still here."

"Well," I began to answer, "If the prophecy holds true, then I should survive the whole way through.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I haven't gotten telekinesis yet."

"Where will you get it, anyway?"

"I don't know, but it has to be soon."

It'd be a while before "soon" came.

At last, we got together and gathered around the ship. I described it earlier, so I don't need to explain it any further, aside from the fact that it still had red as its base color.

We all hopped onto the plane. I stood up on the wings again, Tails in the cockpit, as always, and Knuckles relaxing in the back seat. I looked back at Rouge. She didn't care too much about us anyway, but she at least smiled and waved at us as we flew off. I'm not sure if it was us or just Knux. Like I said, I didn't hear the rest of the conversation, so I wouldn't know.

While in the air, I began to look down at the lands below us. After the "Grand Metropolis acids" came the forests. The pine trees rose so high into the air that you could barely see the ground. I looked to my left and saw mountain ranges off in the distance, most covered in snow.

That's when I realized it: While I'm stuck playing the big hero, I have one of the biggest burdens out of all of us: to protect this island from mass destruction. I didn't know what Robotnik was planning while I was out on my scavenger hunts. Whatever it was, though, I knew it had to be stopped, even if we died trying.

We finally arrived back at Tails's underground lab (completely forgot about this place, didn't you?). We parked the plane in the center and hopped off. I turned to Tails for our next step.

"Listen, it's been a busy day." Tails pointed out. "With all these island assaults and city escapes, it's easy to realize how one's head can be overwhelmed with physical movement. Let's try and get some shut-eye. It's seven o' clock at night right now. Let's get up at six in the morning and try to conjure up our next destination."

"Agreed." I said.

"I have to go." Knux said abruptly.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You know me, Sonic. I have an island to care for, an emerald to guard, and a culture to spread around."

"If you want it to spread, you should spend more time on the island."

"Do you know how many times Angel Island has fallen and I've had to come over to this place?"

"That was all mandatory. Why not try to come down here just to hang out?"

Knuckles looked at the ground for a moment.

"I'll think about it."

"Good to hear."

Knuckles went up the ladder to Tails actual workshop. After a bit of marveling at our new plane, Tails and I headed up as well. Knux had gone as expected.

Tails opened a closet near his kitchen and got out this velvet futon. I love futons. I love velvet. The two of them mixed together: greatest…place…to sleep…ever!

Once Tails headed up and I lay back on the futon, I wondered about the whole incident with Fang. I started to ask: _Where is he now? Will I ever hear from or see him again? Why'd he kill Uncle Chuck?_ It all seemed unclear, almost like a conspiracy. Of course, that'd be pretty far-fetched.

I then began to wonder about myself: _Who am I really? What convinced me to become the hero I played the role of? What was I really supposed to do?_ No definite answers for that, either.

I decided to sleep on it. I didn't have the answers, but I knew I'd find them, one way or another.

There has to be a reason for Fang's assassinations.

And there had to be a clue to my past life.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. That was a pretty long chapter, if I do say so myself. My objective here was to introduce more character background, add a new relationship, some new questions, and even a bit of suspense, in terms of their next objective.<strong>

**We've spent a good four chapters (including this one) in Grand Metropolis. I didn't want to end it abruptly, so I made sure to put in characters that made sense and situations that coincided with one another. I especially liked that you could paint what Sonic was doing in your mind, but you could sort of only doodle what the others were encountering.**

**Now, to clarify right now, this story will have some relationships to consider. Knux and Rouge is the first, but only touched upon at certain points. There are others that come into play, but I just want people to realize that not all of their favorite relationships will be accounted for, if you're that kind of person.**

**Act II is not over yet. It's still going. To make sure the story gets interesting and has many surprises, I want you to, once again, review & request. I haven't gotten a lot of reviews lately. Same goes for my PM box. And I think I know the reason why. Guys, spread this story around. Don't just read it, review it, and suggest it. From now on, I hope that you guys can get more people to read this. Right now, I'm sure I only have a limited audience.**

**You may think I'm begging for attention, which I technically am, but think of it this way. The more that read the story, the more critique I'll get, and the more suggestions I'll be sent. Trust me, if you guys can let your fellow FF writers know of this story, there'll be more places to go to within the story. Please send this thing around!**

**Anyways, I didn't mean to hassle you guys with that. The next chapter will most likely be up next Friday. The reason why these chapters are taking forever is that these chapters are taking forever to go up is because our dorm computer is acting stupid, so I've been reduced to going to the school's computer room and typing there. I can only go there and write at certain times. I have a life outside of writing, I hope you understand.**

**Read ya later!**


	14. A Little Rose & A Few Birds

**Act II/Chapter XIII: A Little Rose & A Few Birds**

I woke up to find myself in the living room of Tails's house again. Like most of you, I wanted to stay asleep and stay warm. Sleep is needed for everyone, and I wanted it. Then again, I did spend my trip from the boat to Angel Island asleep the whole time. So I guess I've had a good amount of sleep.

I soon heard a couple footsteps from behind me. I rotated on the futon so I lay on my stomach. I looked up to find Tails, holding a cup of tea, with his tuft of hair on his head all messy and his tails fuzzy.

"Ah," he said, sounding like you would in the morning, "You're awake."

"Did you think I was dead?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, I simply believed you'd still be sleeping."

"Anything you need?"

"Not really."

I groaned into my pillow.

"Oh, I got you something." He said.

"What is it?" I asked. "A new pair of shoes? I only have 4 pairs. Might as well have more."

"It's not shoes."

He pulled something out of a bag. Whatever it was, it smelt good.

"It's 'it'."

I looked up at him with wide eyes.

"The 'it'? The one you didn't have before?"

"Just eat it."

I looked over the futon and looked at his offering hand. It was a chili dog. Have I told you guys about… I assume no. Anyways, I freakin' love chili dogs. I was talking about it with Tails while we were at Grand Metropolis, remember? It's still going. I love those things. Whoever made them should be given a medal and shoot their assassinator… if they had one, that is.

I swiped it from his hand and munched on my first bite. If you ever had pizza and spaghetti at the same time, which most of you probably haven't done, it was like that, only better.

I ate the whole thing in three bites. People accused of my eating habits. Tails was fine with it, considering I'd been (in a way) his brother ever since he was born. Knux always hated my rambunctious attitude when eating… but I already knew that his father hated him for eating like a pig too. Shadow never knew about it. Rouge didn't either. Silver only heard of it. The only other person besides tails who was fine with my eating manners (and thought I looked cute while doing it) was… actually, I'll get to that.

Just then, I heard a knock on Tails's front door.

"Is it Knux?" Tails asked.

"Probably not." I responded.

"Well, he did decide to think about getting off the island sometime."

"I don't think he'd agree to it so abruptly."

I looked through the peephole in Tails's door. I didn't see anything. I looked back at Tails.

"Maybe it's a prank?" Tails suggested.

I shrugged, and turned back. I opened the door cautiously. As soon as I took only two or three steps out the door, I heard,

"Sonic!"

I instantly fell into shock and into the bush besides the steps to Tails's front door. I popped my head up and saw the last person I expected to see that day.

Her name was Amy Rose. She was this pink hedgehog in a red dress. Her voice seemed very girly and high-pitched, yet so innocent and well-mannered. She could have a split-personality happen and instantly kick major butt. Her personality was, of course, acceptable and nice. She was great… except in one category.

Amy seemed to be crazy for me, enough to want to be with me forever. I'm not against relationships with girls, but my problem is… oh, I'll just stop and continue the story.

"Amy," I sighed, "You always find ways to scare me on any day I see you."

"I didn't mean to scare you," she said, "though it was kinda funny."

Her voice was so innocent it was hard to argue with her.

"Amy!" Tails shouted from his workshop. "Come on in!"

"Tails! How you doin'?"

Amy ran off into the workshop. I walked out of the bushes and brushed off all branches and leaves hanging on me. I then hopped up the steps, and entered and closed Tails's front door.

Amy was giving Tails a big hug. After relinquishing her hug on him, she turned to me and hugged me as well.

"Where have you been?" she asked me, still hugging the air out of me.

"Just hanging around…" I responded. "…until as of late."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Robotnik's back. We don't know what he's planning accurately, but we do know, like his last 5 other plans, that the Chaos Emeralds are involved."

"Is he really back?"

"From what we've witnessed… and fought, yes."

"You've been hurt? Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me, Amy. I'm just fine."

"But I do worry about you."

I looked over at Tails, who was currently covering his eyes. He kind of registered Amy and I as a couple sometimes, but I had to explain to him several times that wasn't true. I guess when Amy said that, he assumed we were gonna kiss or something. I had to make him not think that.

"Tails, you find anything yet?"

"Not yet." He replied, still covering his eyes.

"You want to check to see if anything has popped up on the console yet?"

"Sure."

With his eyes still be hidden by his hands, he turned ninety degrees to his right and began walking. He accidentally bumped into the wall and fell on the floor. He instantly got up and looked at us.

"I'm good, just fine. Didn't, uh… see the wall there."

He casually strolled up the stairs.

"Are you sure you're fine, Sonic?" Amy asked anxiously.

"I'm good."

"You seem troubled by something."

"Just everyday life."

"What about it?"

"Amy? I have to ask you something."

"Yes?" she asked, looking into my eyes for the answer.

I blinked slowly.

"What do you think I was supposed to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I wasn't… "this", what would I do instead?"

"I…"

She seemed baffled. I never asked anyone this before, so I knew this'd be a problem for her to answer.

"I don't know."

I looked away from her.

"Why are you thinking like this?"

Looking out a window on the right wall of the living room, I closed my eyes and tilted my head down.

"I was asked a question…"

I turned to her, eyes open.

"…but I haven't found the answer."

"Well, maybe I can help you find it."

"Depending on where we're going, you may have to stay."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Amy, I don't where we're headed anymore. It's always a surprise. I'm fighting for everything here, and it's getting dangerous. We need to keep safe."

"Are you saying... that you care about me?"

Gosh darn it. I knew I would get myself stuck in a pickle like this. I was about to answer when I heard Tails from above.

"Sonic! Get up here, quick!"

After eyeing the stairwell, I looked back at Amy.

"I have to go. Please stay out of trouble." I told her.

"You still haven't answered my quest-."

"I don't have time for it. Gotta go!"

I ran up the stairs. As soon as I arrived at Tails's computer, I heard the front door slam.

"What did you say to her?" Tails asked, disappointed.

"What'd you want me to say, lil' bro? You told me to get up here."

"You could have at least ended the conversation in a non-abrupt way!"

"That's not the reason I'm here! What'd you want me to know?"

"Well, I found something that I never even knew: There's a Chaos Emerald in South Island's Mystic Museum."

I remember trying to do this later (and it failed), but Tails told me my face was priceless.

"That is WAY too convenient."

"Actually, it gets less convenient. Apparently, from the recent reports, a group of high-tech rogues snatched it from them."

"Rogues? What does that mean?"

"Here, just take a look at this footage."

A video popped up on-screen. It was a news caster and her crew, attempting to report while noises overwhelmed the speaker. As soon as she looked to her left, the camera turned to view the street, with lights off in the distance. As they got close, they came to sudden stop. Dust overwhelmed the crew and nearly toppled them over. The cameraman was able to get a good shot of their attackers: they looked like birds, but not like your average small bird. They seemed my size, but cartoon-looking, like most of us Mobians. One was green and slim, another was purple and skinny, and the last one was gray and plump. Quite an individualistic group to me. But something else intrigued me.

"What are they riding on?" I asked.

Tails looked back at the vid.

"From my experience in science, they look like… hover-boards."

I raised my eyebrow on this one. I never encountered anything like that before. A hover-board seemed fictional, but tacky and exciting! I was so in on this one.

"That allows some suspicion, don't you think?"

"The fact that citizens are being terrified by these people?"

"Well, that and their hover-boards. How did they get such an advanced piece of equipment?"

"They have quite the manufacturer."

"No kiddin'. Hey, do we know where these guys are?"

"From the reports I've looked up, it looks like… Metal City?"

"Why does that bring Grand Metropolis to mind?"

"I don't know. I don't think we've been there before, have we?"

"I don't think so, but I guess we're gonna have to go."

"Yeah. We need that Emerald."

"We need all of them. Where's the Emerald's signature coming from?"

"It looks like the right side of the island… not the far right side, the right side."

"Why we didn't see it while at Grand Metropolis is beyond me."

"Are we ready?"

"Let's gear up!"

* * *

><p>We flew off to Metal City. The hover-board thing intrigued me, so that was half the reason we went there, in my opinion. They've always tested hover-boards, but they got mediocre results. Recently, they've been made legal, and I've heard of great races held all over South Island. I guessed that Metal City was one city to have hover-boards as a big thing, considering the right side of South Island is pretty industrialized (I've told already about Grand Metropolis).<p>

As we neared the city, I saw little to no danger. Sure, cars were going way faster than in Central or Westside City, but they at least had the timing; they could turn their right blinker on, take a right turn, switch to their left blinker, and then pull a left turn. Made me think of F-Zero a little bit.

We landed on a skyscraper, which luckily had a landing-pad. Once we landed, we hopped off the plane. I snagged my SatAm bag and slipped it on. Tails and I walked over to the building's edge.

This brings me to the city itself. The place was massive. It wasn't like Grand metropolis, with buildings mainly made of green metal. It actually had different colored buildings. The cars looked individualistic, and there were no floating streets or street boundaries. There was actually a ground in there. The city was pretty tall in design, although it wasn't nearly as tall as Grand Metropolis was. That, my friend, is still a mystery right now.

Back to the situation before us, Tails and I were at the edge of the building.

"So where are they now?" I asked.

"That vid was posted only a couple hours ago," Tails answered, "so they may or may not still be out."

A couple minutes later, we heard some sirens from down the street. Looking to our lefts, we saw the usual red-and-blue lights of the cops, but we also saw who they were chasing… and boy, were we lucky.

Those birds in the vid were fleeing from the cops. I watched them as they zoomed across the road with their hover-board skills. One was grinding on a little pipe, another was popping in the air and pulling tricks off (show-off), but the last one, who was green, was doing something a bit… different.

I watched him take something from his bag. It was glowing yellow, so I assumed this was the Chaos Emerald we were after. He placed it on the back of his board, which was emitting a long stream of yellow light behind it. Once the Emerald was placed, the trail glowed brighter, and I saw him begin to rise. I could see the wind below him as he ascended in the air.

That's when I pieced it together: by placing the Emerald in the board, the bird was able to fly around with it. That seemed pretty cool… until I realized I need that Emerald.

He curved back into the street and took out the Emerald. The turbulence building up under him shot out at the cops and forced them off the road. I took this chance when they believed danger to be over to get the jump on them.

Tails, still watching them race down the road, asked me,

"Are you ready, Sonic?"

He turned to me… or where I would have been.

"Sonic?" He asked again.

I already had hopped off the building by the time the cops were lost. I hit the ground rolling, and stopping on one knee. I stood and looked out at the birds. At this point, they didn't care about me; I guess they believed I'd be scared and jump out of their way… but I didn't. The green guy yelled out to his friends,

"Stop!"

He sounded like a duck with strep throat.

They all "skidded" to a stop (they were riding air). The green bird stopped right in front of me. The other two stopped behind me, the purple one to my left and the gray one to my right. The green one asked,

"What brings you in front of us?"

"What you have in your possession."

"You think it'll be that easy?"

"Heh. I've destroyed a good five ships, all of one common enemy. I think I can handle a few birds."

"Birds?" the big grey one repeated.

"You have no idea who you're messing with," the purple bird asked, sounding like a female.

They all began to take off their shades in order of their speech.

"I'm Storm the Albatross, brawler of the Babylon Rogues."

"My name is Wave, technician of the Babylon Rogues."

"And I'm Jet the Hawk, leader of the Babylon Rogues."

I then realized what I just did.

"How's that for 'a few birds'?" Jet asked me.

Honestly, I was quite intimidated.

"Well," I began, "you're more than qualified. But tell me one thing: are you quick to the touch?"

"Why would you need to know-?"

I threw a punch at him.

Notice that I didn't say that it impacted.

He grabbed hold of my fist and twisted it. He didn't break it, but he sure as heck got close to the breaking point. He shoved my fist back, and I was grieving over the pain I experienced. He then hopped in the air and heaved both his boots into my face. I was knocked back on my head. I began to stand up.

"And that was just Jet." Wave pointed out.

My eyes became wide, but then I heard a cry from above. A little flash of orange landed in front of me, wrench in hand. He looked up at the Rogues and held his wrench in both hands.

"It's a little kid." Storm commented.

"You seriously think you can fight us, kid?" Jet asked.

"I can certainly make you forget that I can." Tails threatened.

"You've got moxy, Tails," I stated, "but that might've not helped us."

"We always get out of these fights alive, remember?"

"Yes, well, I'd like to still have an arm and a leg after this one."

* * *

><p><strong>That was actually kind of fun. I enjoyed all of the introductions in this chapter. The computer in my dorm's back up, so I can put out more content more often. That's a big plus for us.<strong>

**Now, granted, I 'm not the best at romance, especially romantic. When you two characters that have been seen as love pairing, it's hard to balance out the responses and make them feel like real people. If the lines between Sonic and Amy seemed cheesy or badly written, it's most likely because I'm just not good at romance. This is my first story I've written dealing with this alongside adventure. Think of it as something of an experiment.**

**Steel15, I decided to take your suggestion and make a little bigger. I hope you noticed that. For others who don't know what I'm talking about, he suggested that jet could play a part. I decided to include the other Babylon Rogues and Metal City, the first stage in the Sonic Riders series and my favorite stage in those games.**

**Anyways, I hope that you've enjoyed all of the introductions and new situations introduced in this chapter (Sonic and Amy's relationship & The Babylon Brawl). Can't wait to write Chapter XIV! It's gonna be full of high-octane chases and awesome fight scenes. I hope this will please for now. Read ya later!**


	15. Going Rogue

**Act II/Chapter XIV: Going Rogue**

When we got back from this, Tails researched the Babylon Rogues. Apparently, they dated back many centuries, all the way to, obviously, the fall of Babylon. When this land vanished, the survivors of the "Babylon Event", as some historians call it, banded together and decided on ways to get back on top. Babylon used to rule a big chunk of land. After that, they really had nowhere else to run but forward.

They all, whether they agreed to or not, let themselves drop to the lives of thieves. They snuck around cities with no suspicion, snatching money from anyone willing to pay no attention to anything. They all would meet back at central points to exchange their money for goods. These goods were usually very advanced compared to other technologies in existence at the time.

Of, the rules changed. A new trade system here, a little divisions among civil rights there, but they ended up sticking together. The Babylon Rogues, existing since the end of Babylon 'till now, had spread out across Mobius, stuck within their thieving ways. Now, they earned some cash back from their trades, along with a new invention of some sort. The hover-board was merely an example.

Another thing that was interesting was that, throughout its existence, the Babylon rogues taught themselves, through discipline, kung-fu. They were full-bred machines of combat, the historians wrote. They used to wield spears, shields, swords, and armor, but now they are restricted to their tech and natural fighting skill rather than weapons.

Of course, Tails found this out after we got done in Metal City. We were still there. Had I known that these guys would be really good at fighting and such, I may not have approached them in such a way as I did.

Let me explain how it was laid out: we were all in the middle of the street, no cars coming any time soon. The Babylon Rogues were standing in a triangle: Jet eyeing Tails, who was behind me, down the center of the street, and Wave, in front of me, was looking at me, and Storm, to my left, was looking at Tails. I had faith that Tails could hold off Jet… for a bit. He'd need help at some point. I needed to find a way to help Tails when the fighting got rough.

Just when I thought of this, the fight commenced. Tails told me everything that happened on his side of the fight, so I know how everything goes here.

Tails took his first swing at jet, which missed. Wave went for a roundhouse kick, but I ducked and circled my leg around once, tripping her in the process. Tails hopped in the air and tried to slash down on Jet, but he hit the ground instead. Jet was about to stomp him, but Tails, his wrench in both hands, blocked the foot. He shoved it back, throwing Jet off balance. Tails instantly wacked him upside the head. He shoke his head to regain focus.

"It won't that easy anymore." He said.

"I'm counting on it." Tails commented.

Jet lunged at him. Wave, meanwhile, had just hit the ground. I was about to knock her out when I was tackled by Storm. I tried to wrestle free, but he was WAY too heavy for me to get off. Wave called off Storm so she could deliver a finishing blow. I wasn't done, however. When she believed that I wouldn't attempt any movement and started to kick me, I rolled to my left and stood up. I hopped into the air and, when she blocked with her palms, Homing Attacked her.

Storm's face was priceless.

"Didn't see that comin', did ya?" I asked her rhetorically.

"You're one to talk!" She shouted back at me. She was a meter or so from me.

I was confused by what she meant, but then I heard a beeping from below. It sounded confined, as if it were stuck between two surfaces. I felt that it was coming from the street, so I picked my shoe up. The beeping became more audible, but it wasn't coming from the street. I saw a light flashing from the bottom of my shoe. It was in unison with the beeps. Suddenly, my ears were ringing, as an explosion blew me away. My right shoe was now slightly burnt, but it still looked like a shoe.

"That's what happens when you mess with a technician!" she yelled at me.

She must've had a bomb planted on her palm when I Homing Attacked her, so my shoe picked it up and activated it.

"Get him, Storm!"

"With pleasure!" He growled.

He made me think of Wrex from those Mass Effect games.

He charged at me, but was knocked back by a small fur ball (Tails). Jet apparently threw Tails away from him after Tails began beating up his face. He never intended, in my mind at least, to hit Storm. He nearly knocked him out cold. Tails must've been gaining some strength… or some weight, either way.

I looked over at Jet, who now set his eyes on me. He began to run towards me, but I sprung up to my feet rapidly. He took an exaggerated swing at my head, but I pretty much juked him to his left. I grabbed his right arm and pulled him towards me.

I noticed his little satchel (or messenger bag as some call it). It had a strange glow from within, most likely the Emerald. I reached for it, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled it away. I kicked him his stomach, and socked him in his beak. He fell back away from me.

Storm was just now getting up, with Tails hanging onto his head (I don't think he wanted to be thrown anymore.). Storm noticed him and began to shake his head to get him off.

"Get off me, you waste o' fur!" I heard him grumble.

Storm lunged over Storm's head, grabbing Tails along the way. As she landed, Tails kicked himself away from her via kicking her chest. He fell on his face, but he wasn't backing down. He stood up, watching Wave regain some air.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

I had no idea what he was doing.

"I'm fine…" she began.

She instantly swung her leg around.

"…just need some fresh-!"

Tails stomped in her face. Storm fell back, grabbing her beak. As she looked up, she saw tails flying with his two tails. She then stuttered.

"A-a-air?"

Tails looked at me and subliminally pointed to his left. Looking over there, I saw his wrench. I got the message, ran over to the wrench, and tossed it over to him. But just when he was about deliver the final blow, Jet lunged himself at Tails, knocking him to the ground. Jet got back up, regrouped with Wave and Storm and, taking out their hover-boards, took off down the street. That's when we heard the cops coming.

"That ain't good." I commented.

I turned to Tails, who had just stood up after Jet's attack.

"Let's get 'em!" I yelled out.

"Go without me." Tails said.

"Why would I do that?"

"In case of emergency, I'll be able to pick you up in the Tornado if things get bad."

"Think you can reach us in time?"

"You can bet on it!"

I saluted him as I shot off down the street. I don't know exactly what Tails did once I left.

* * *

><p>Finally, I had caught sight of the Rogues. They were juicing down the road on their hover-boards. With the roads curving to the left and right, going up and down steep slopes, and even through gigantic tubes built for 360 degree movement within them, I'm surprised they hadn't gotten vertigo yet. Then again, I'm one to talk. How many loops have I raced through this far in my life?<p>

I began my approach. They hadn't used the Chaos Emerald to boost yet, so I could still technically pose a threat. I ran up behind Jet, and then slowly approached his side. Apparently, even with their advanced tech, they still hadn't gotten radars. As I came up next to him. When he looked to his left, his eyes widened.

"How'd you get here so quickly?" he shouted.

The others, racing on either side of him, were shocked at his sudden outburst.

Keeping up with him, using my supersonic speed, I told him,

"You obviously aren't connected to the Internet or a television, huh? I'm the fastest thing alive, bird brain!"

Jet suddenly disengaged his hover-board, and his team fell back with him. I looked back after his sudden disappearance, but I didn't see him. Wherever he went, it was somewhere unbeknownst to me… at the time. I kept running, to see if they'd pop around any corners… which they did.

I remember hearing some sort of turbulent wind around me. I believed it to be the sudden rush of speed I had gained while I ran. But then I heard someone from above.

"I'm gonna test that claim!"

I looked up, but was then looking in every direction. Something had sped down within the wind, launching me into the air. As I began to become horizontally balanced, I saw three figures come to a stop. The Rogues were slowing their hover-boards down to stop only a few meters away from me. I focused on Jet's beak, painted with a smirk.

"Fastest thing alive, huh?" he said in a cocky tone.

He gave the signal to the others and they began to sail down the road. I fell to the road, doing a couple flips before staying on the ground. I felt powerless. I had just been burned… by a bird!

I began to stand up. I wanted to run after, but I felt a loss of courage. After that embarrassing moment, I felt like just going back. But, as soon as I began to walk back, I heard a zoom from around the corner which the Rogues and I had rounded. It sounded just like a hover-board, but if there were multiple boosters on it. I then saw a flash of light boosting around the corner. I then heard a shout.

"Jump!" the high-pitched voice told me.

After I jumped, I landed in a seat in the back of a… go-kart?

* * *

><p>Did I ever tell you about that one time that, when Tails and I had to get to the president to warn about Robotnik's plan with the ARK, we had to use a go-kart model of the Tornado-II to get him? No? Well, now I did.<p>

Basically, that's exactly what I landed in. Tails was the driver, which didn't surprise me. I looked around the thing, and it looked like it did when we sought the President. Only, one thing caught my eye: the tires Tails put on the Tornado-III were floating… and releasing energy which propelled the car above the ground. The go-kart had become a hovercraft!

"Tails?" I asked him.

"I know, I know," Tails explained to me, "I should have told you earlier, but which one would have been more exciting: the plane or the go-kart?"

I nodded to the side. He had a point on that one.

"When'd you put this one in?"

"Well, I had some of those extra parts that Rouge gave us. I found some boosters and wheels, brand new and unused. I decided to put to use, as you can plainly see. Remember waking up this morning? I did that, but at five o'clock in the morning."

"When'd I wake up, even?"

"Seven-thirty, more or less."

"Aside from that, from this thing get us to the Rouges?"

"It still has those plane boosters in the back."

"Just what we need. Let's go!"

The hovercraft boosted off down the street. It felt weird to feel such a burst of speed without having to move my legs. That hovercraft's boosters could've actually kept up with me if it was programmed well enough.

It zoomed down the road to a long curving street. As we began to round it, we caught sight of the Rogues.

"Oh, Jet!" I yelled out to them.

They turned their heads.

"Try this one for size!"

We began to boost over to them. I could tell that they were getting anxious. They were willing to do anything to keep us from the Emerald.

"You're quite persistent!" Jet pointed out over the loud, booming trails of boost trailing both of our transports.

"Well, the stakes are higher than you think!" I replied.

"Let's se if they'll matter to you!"

He placed the Chaos Emerald in his board.

"Babylon Rogues, cover the ground! Try to take out the plane!" He commanded as he flew straight into the air.

Storm and Wave both pulled out these wrist missile launchers. While they looked sick AND slick, those things were gonna be used to kill us; this was not the time to gaze upon their gadgetry. I had to think fast. With Jet attempting to distract and the others about to eradicate us and the cops WAY further behind, the decision was to be absolute.

Fortunately, Tails acted faster than I did, but we achieved the same goal.

"Transforming…" he began holding his finger up to exaggerate his action, "…NOW!"

His finger came down, and the hovercraft instantly spread its mini-wings out into the plane's wings. The body of the hovercraft extended out to be the plane's body, and the plane's propellers popped out from the center and began to rapidly spin. The hovercraft, now a full-fledged plane again, flew up almost abruptly.

I hopped up and latched onto the topmost edge of the plane's wings (because the plane was heading straight up), eyeing Jet from afar. He hadn't yet noticed me until our plane boosters got closer. That's when he started to do evasive maneuvers. When he noticed us, we were straight above the road. Our plane was headed up, but Jet was heading horizontally away from us. He zoomed straight down, nearly to the street, and then back up. He was headed straight for our plane.

"Tails," I began, "turn this thing around for a head-on collision!"

"This thing can't make sharp U-turns!" Tails explained. "We'll heading alongside him at the least!"

"Well, it's time to change that in my favor!"

I looked down at Jet, whose ends of his beak were grinding against each other (kind of like gritting your teeth). My right hand was grasping the plane's wings. My left hand was hanging from my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Geronimo!" I yelled, as I launched myself off the plane, relinquishing my grip on the wings.

I began to free-fall. All I heard was the wind rushing by me. Tails, after we did this, said that he was shouting to me, but I didn't hear him. Jet seemed like he was shouting a very coarse phrase at my act, but I didn't hear him. I began to spin in the air, looking stylish as I fell, because… well, why not?

As I came close to jet, I could see the surprise in his eyes. He began to swerve his board around… which was a bad idea. As the back of his board came around, I grabbed onto it. We began to fly around in all random directions. I couldn't keep track of where he was going. But I at least had some sense within me.

I remembered I was at the back of the board, where Jet placed the Emerald! He totally screwed himself over! I reached into the back and snatched the chaos Emerald from within it. But as soon as I was about to swing my SatAm bag out to stash it away, the hover-board, now facing up, began to fall back down. The board began flipping away from us as Jet and I gained velocity to the ground below. I lost interest in the Emerald and gained interest in how I'd hit the ground and survive.

I lost my grip on the Emerald. I gasped and reached out, but Jet snatched it away from me. He began to try to stash it away too, but I was able to get myself close enough to grab his wrist. He grasped mine and pulled it away. He then grabbed it with his other hand as well, releasing the Chaos Emerald. I noticed this and maneuvered my legs to try to catch it between my feet. Jet observed my frantic efforts to get it, so he pulled me close and kicked both of my elbows.

I cried out in pain. He nearly broke my arms! He grabbed the Emerald from the air. After relieving myself from pain, I watched Jet descend. He was calling stuff out at the Rogues, but I couldn't hear him because of the rushing wind. I began to wonder what I could do, but then I remembered one of my many upgrades.

I placed my right hand on my left shoulder, although it hurt to bend it. I would've probably used a stupid, cheesy one-liner, but the wind… ah, you get it by now. I closed my eyes, because the attack's flash combined with the overpowering sunlight of the afternoon would probably blind me.

I swung out my arm, releasing Chaos Spears in only a matter of milliseconds. They flew off towards Jet. The impact of each sent him spinning in different directions. And you know what's kinda funny: These people were birds… but they didn't have wings!

The Emerald flew out from his hand and slowly went up (my weight brought me down faster than the Emerald, thus it was moving slower than I was). As it neared me, I grabbed and looked upon it. It was no fake; it was a real Chaos Emerald (which was the only power source that could make a hover-board fly).

I stuffed it into my SatAm backpack, but then I realized the bigger problem: how do I survive this fall? I began flailing. I had no real way to save myself; no matter what power I used, I'd still end up breaking something, and I already hoped I'd come out of this fight in one piece.

But you know what absolutely forgot about until it swopped in under me? The Tornado-III! The second I saw it, I was in relief. Tails was an expert pilot. To lose a passenger, almost be blinded by my Chaos Spear (as he proclaims), and still save me is a miracle in itself.

I landed on the wings again. I felt somewhat dizzy (with the whole spinning view of the hover-board thing), but Tails assured that I could sit in the back. To me, that sounded like a great idea. I hopped over him and into the backseat. I began to close my eyes, realizing the fight was over.

"Sonic," Tails said, "Look at the Rogues."

I looked down at the street. Jet had landed pretty hard on his face. He had a few burns on him, but nothing extremely severe (I didn't want to _kill_ him). Wave and Storm were kneeling next to him, but then looked at the end of the street we arrived from, and saw the cops arriving, guns set to… whatever setting possible on a gun. The Babylon Rogues had ditched their hover-boards, so they had no choice but to back down. The cops took them into their cars and drove off.

"I feel kind of bad for them." I said.

"Why? They were gonna kill you if need be."

"They seemed so… connected. It's as if they've trusted each other throughout their existence. They didn't use their hover-boards to leave, because they wanted to make sure Jet was okay. These guys were like brothers and sisters… a family."

Tails didn't respond to anything I'd said. I must've made a pretty compelling argument to shut him out of debating further. We turned left, back to his workshop. This was a very strange branch of the tree we'd been digging. That's when I began to think: _What role do the Babylon Rogues play into this?_ It seemed unclear at the time as to what their goal was. But that's why Tails researched them a little bit after the incident.

* * *

><p>I remember taking a long nap after that one, until way late in the night. But I remember thinking about one little thing before hitting the hay. I recall staring at the ceiling, twiddling with my thumbs. Just before I turned over to get some shut-eye, I recall moaning,<p>

"I still think they're a bunch of birds."

Quite the understatement, actually.

* * *

><p><strong>Quite the chapter, eh? I knew I wanted the Babylon Rogues to be a formidable foe, but I also wanted to twist their history just a little bit. Honestly, this makes some sense. I really liked the fight sequences within this chapter. I was watching the fight in my head, and I thought it was amazing.<strong>

**I do kind of** **wish that I had used the hovercraft a bit more, but I'll try to use it in later chapters. I wanted to introduce something that would get Tails into the chase quickly, so I decided to have a throwback to SA2's president chase thing. I thought its reappearance was well deserved; they completely ditched the idea afterwards.**

**Thanks for putting up some effort for getting people to read this. I hope it gets noticed, because now I'm stuck as to where to go next. I have some cool little sequences that would pertain to certain stages, but I really want your input on all of this. Where will Sonic go to find a Chaos Emerald next? Please post your suggestions in the reviews OR message me, either way.**

**By the way, did you guys see the reference to the Sonic Riders opening cutscene when Jet wanted to "test that claim". That was my objective in this one: Sure, Sonic Riders never really happned in this timeline, but Sonic would still be swept by Jet and also punked by Jet. Nostalgia, anyone?**

**Anyways, enough of me. Onto Chapter XV (when more suggestions pull through)! Read ya later!**


	16. Eye For An Eye

**Act II/Chapter XV: Eye For An Eye**

Rockets, missiles, great red eye, red flash, glowing red gem, fighting, fighting a lot, fighting in sparks, all leading to…

I shot from my pillow. I was letting out big breaths as I made sure I was still living. My hands shot around my body, to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I began to calm my nerves.

That was a very peculiar dream I had had. I tried to figure out the segments I remembered. It all seemed real, so much like my reality. I nearly believed I had gone through it, and that this was the afterlife: sitting in a room and panicking in my own sweat.

That dream scared the soul out of me! I could hardly stand on my own; I had use the futon as leverage to even get up.

Just then, I heard the stairs creaking. I looked over in the direction of the kitchen. I began a slow sneak over to the stairwell, but only got close enough to simply peek around the corner. He was close. I snapped my head back and began to ponder my next move.

Tails's workshop had a great reputation for having no burglaries. This would the first time, at least I believed. I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was intent on stealing Tails's stuff for evil deeds, so I wasn't gonna let that happen, even though I shouldn't really be the hero to begin with.

I could see his foot press lightly against the ground, almost like a whisper. He put his other foot down as well. As soon as I turned the corner to confront the intruder, I was totally not expecting who it was: Knuckles.

"Knux!" I asked him quietly. "What are you do-?"

"Shhhhh!" Knux proclaimed silently.

"You haven't answered my-!"

"Shhhhh!"

"What for?"

"Obviously, because Tails is still sleeping."

"How'd you not wake him up?"

"Tails is a pretty sound sleeper, and he doesn't lock his balcony door. I snuck down here to find you."

"Why me?"

Knuckles looked back up the stairs to see if anything changed (I guess). He then looked back at me, leaning his head forward.

"I think I found a Chaos Emerald."

"What?"

"Shhhhh! I saw around in Westside City. You wanna come get it?"

"You bet. Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Grabbing hold of Knux and rushing over to Westside City, we arrived there at approximately eleven-thirty one (Yes, I remembered the time exactly). It was obviously pretty late at night, so I knew people wouldn't be parading around the streets like morons.<p>

I hated it when people in Westside acted like they owned the place. It just felt like they were disrespecting their ruler, Queen Elias Acorn. She owned all of the islands in Mobius, so I wasn't about to disrespect her power, or else I'd have been sent out on the nearest space shuttle.

While we hopped across rooftops and searched for possible hiding spots for an Emerald, I started to chat with Knuckles.

"So," I began, "you decided to get off the island, eh?"

"Yeah," Knux replied, "but I'm not too happy about it."

"An Emerald to guard, a duty to serve, right?"

"Exactly. It always feels different away from the island for some reason."

"When you started out, did you ever make it off the island to explore?"

"My father wouldn't let me. He was afraid I'd lose the echidna tradition, get lost in the island's overwhelming sights. He wanted me to focus on my duties put before me."

"What were you before you were… 'assigned' to guard the Master Emerald?"

"Honestly, I was only a student of my tribe. All we learned was the echidna tradition, that if one dies, the next oldest would take his place."

"His? Was your culture, in a way, gender ranked?"

"What do you mean?"

"This probably isn't the best way to say it, but were the men more important than the women?"

"In terms of culture and tradition, yes. When it came to hard work and labor, it was a mix. Caring for our many homes was for the ladies. The men usually focused on holding onto the echidna foundation and hoping that we would hold a great power one day. The women simply worked to keep ourselves in a better mindset."

"Did anyone want to rebel?"

"A few tried, but being isolated does a number on intelligence. These women were able to overthrow my father's throne, but once they got it, they didn't really know their next move. They were kicked from the king's throne, letting my father rise again, and were executed the following afternoon. That's what happens when you mess with the cycles of the Gods."

"Your people believed in different gods?"

"It's a long list, but I know that I was named after Nukes, the god of war. There were many others, such as Mil, the god of flight, Ames, the god of love, and Onik, the god of speed."

Those names sounded awfully familiar, but I let it slide.

"Knuckles, you're well taught. You know a lot about the echidna religion and practices, but let me ask you a personal question."

"Shoot."

"Do you still believe in those practices?"

He stopped for a moment. We'd just traversed five rooftops, searching for possible Emerald spots. We had stopped at the roof of a building on one corner of an intersection. Knux, having leaned down to peak under a broken vent cover, stood back up.

"With the echidnas dying and no connection to this island for most of my life so far, I never was able to spread the traditions onward. Without anyone to be given these teachings and spread it across the planet, I was alone, stuck with knowledge no one could receive. I'm not even sure if I follow those traditions anymore. In fact, I've caught myself saying 'My god!' a few times."

"That has to be troublesome."

"Yeah. Just knowing that I've lost my style of working next to the echidna, I'm left with fighting evil for the fate of this island. Is that what my father wanted? No. He wanted me to uphold it, and I promised I would."

I felt sorry for him. To stay on this island, not being able to keep his promise, he feels almost lost in the world. I had to help his course of action, if it was affected.

"Knuckles," I began, "I know this will sound cliché, but some promises are made to be broken. Your father knew you'd become affected by this island's charms, but he wanted to make sure of one thing: that you'd remember your uniqueness. That you came from a long line of warriors, and that this island should be thankful for everything the echidnas did for Mobius. I don't think your father was asking you to keep the tradition alive. I think he was asking you to let others simply know of your broad achievements in their brief existence."

This was the first time in a long time that I had seen Knuckles smile. He smiled during victories and successful fights, but this was the first time he smiled at the thing I was searching for as well: the truth.

"Thanks, Sonic. Don't take this the wrong way, but that means a lot to me."

I felt good about it, too. You see, it's that kind of thing that could've made Westside City a more likeable place among the crowds.

But as soon as he gave me thanks, I noticed something off in the distance: a red light hovering only several feet above a distant rooftop. It was quite peculiar at first, but then I concluded it was what we were looking for.

"I think that's our Chaos Emerald." I said.

Knuckles turned around to view the Emerald.

"Well," he stated, "that was easy."

We then began to make our way over to its position, but I was still iffy about it. The Emerald we were looking for is: a) hanging over at a distant, yet sort of close, rooftop, and b) is just hovering in the air. It just didn't make sense that it'd be left alone. But I didn't let that overwhelm the whole way there. By the way, only assumed it was an Emerald

We reached the rooftop, but a soon as we took our first few steps towards the Emerald, we heard something from it. A sort of voice. One that sounded somewhat… cocky, yet robotic.

"You guys are still idiots, huh?"

It sounded familiar. But that was not what I was focused on. As I slowly got closer to the red glow of the "Emerald", I saw the moonlight help out the shape around it. A figure. But it seemed familiar as well. I saw boots, with mechanical legs in them. I believe I saw a backpack strapped around a half-robot, half furry and purple body. His arms, his right robotic and his left furry and purple, had brown gloves covering the hands.

But I was mostly concerned about the head, where the red glow was coming from. I could see the white, furry muzzle, along with one furry, purple right ear and one, metallic left ear. I could see that the right side of his face was unscathed, but the left side, including his eye, was completely metallic. The boundaries between the two sides was not straight, actually rather jagged. The eye was glowing red, which explained why we thought an Emerald was floating above the roof. I'm not sure if Knuckles got this before I did, but I knew just who this was… and I was relieved and terrified at the same time at my realization.

"Nack?" I asked.

"Good to see that you can still recognize… after nearly killing me."

"I thought you were gone. Not necessarily dead, but you seemed to have been lost."

"Why would you care? You practically sent me into that near-death experience.'

"You almost died?"

"Yes, but then the doctor found me… and was able to revive me. I'm grateful for his efforts."

"You were roboticized?"

"That's what you non-believers call it. The doctor has named it 'synthesis'. He believes that the only way to survive is to bring organics and synthetics together."

"That's not how you should live!" Knuckles asserted. "By lending you organic remains for synthetic purposes, you're leaving more and more of your past life behind. Haven't you lost enough already?"

"My father carried a legacy of assassins on his shoulders. The only family I have is who I work for and what I represent. I have nothing to lose-."

"Except your own willpower!" I interrupted. "Those robotic limbs of yours can be controlled by Robotnik, even if you don't want them to. If you didn't kill your target exactly how the doc wanted, he'll take drastic measures, most likely take over your body and do what ever he wants. You refuse, he controls."

"I… don't believe that. I have control over them right now, and the doc wants you and your resistance to be wiped out, but nothing's happening. Besides, the doc and I had an agreement: he didn't push my buttons, I wouldn't push his."

"How would he trust you? What's stopping him from thinking you could kill him anytime he's with you?"

"Because I'm doing this."

He raised his left arm, all five fingers pointing at me. The ends of the fingers opened up. Knux and I didn't see this coming… or what was next. We saw the insides lighting up, then we felt five mini-rockets fly at us. They blew up on impact, and Knux and I flew through the air, off the building, and down to the street.

I raised my head from the impact to find my shoes slightly burnt, my mouth slightly bleeding, and my body covered in dark dust. I coughed a couple times before looking to my left at Knuckles.

His mouth was bleeding like mine, but his left arm looked broken. He must've landed on it wrong. His shoes were dented, losing some color due to the explosion. He began to come around and stand up, while I did the same.

The next thing I knew, Nack had hopped off the rooftop, stomped into the pavement around us, and stood in a calm stance. He seemed so peaceful. His back was straight, he had good posture, and his head was pointed down. In fact, his mechanical eye wasn't glowing a bright red. It was glowing a very dim red.

Knux and I looked at each other. He decided to take the first move. I agreed, although he really shouldn't have (he did have the broken arm after all). As he stepped over and revved up his punch, I knew something bad was gonna happen, because Nack's eye was beginning to brighten up again.

As Knux's right fist accelerated towards Nack's right eye, Nack's right arm instantly flew up. For some reason, Knuckles had the nerve to be surprised. Instantly, Nack's left fist zoomed straight up into Knux's stomach region. I could see Knux cough up a sudden breath that nearly knocked the wind out of him. Nack then roundhouse kicked him to his left, sending Knux into a building. He made only a dent, then fell to the sidewalk.

Nack then turned to me.

_Oh boy,_ I thought to myself.

Nack ran over to me, fist ready for a beatdown. However, I countered it. As his fist drove into my personal space, I grabbed his wrist and placed my hand on his chest. Grabbing hold, I picked him up over my head, and began to send him to the ground. As he was descending in my hands, I heard a gun powering up. Looking over my shoulder, I saw his mechanical fingers getting ready to fire again at the ground. When I figured that out, I figured I should just drop him and run. And so I did.

It didn't go as I planned. I released my grip and began to get away, but he fired at the ground quite quickly, and ended sending me towards Knuckles. Fortunately (for him), he side-stepped before I could force him down. I recall rolling a few times and unwillingly scraping my arms across the pavement before I stopped. That didn't feel good.

I then watched Knuckles carry on the fight. He had been blown off a building, lost a big pack of air from his system, but he still had some fight left in him… a lot of fight, actually. That's called having guts; the ability to not give up no matter what the odds is quite an important trait, one that I've wielded at times.

Knux sprinted off towards the rising Nack. As Knux got close, Nack raised his mech fingers again, but Knux reacted differently than I would. Were I'd simply run away from his blast radius, which would mostly affect him, Knux grabbed his mech hand and snapped it. The arm's elbow plate popped off as the bolts holding the armor plating together flew away from Nack, whom had yelped at the sudden shock. I saw the circuits hanging from inside Nack's mechanical shoulder. The arm lay right next to Knux's foot.

Knuckles was about to shoot another punch, but Nack had ducked. Down on his right mech knee, his other mech leg was planted firmly in front of him. Knux looked down. Nack's left kneecap opened up, revealing a mini-turret. Knuckles reacted just in time to hop out of its line of fire before it released its bullets into the air. Each bullet was followed a millisecond later by two more bullets, then one, then two, then one, and so on.

Knuckles was about to get up, but Nack had begun to stand up, the gun in his knee now turning down to align itself on a horizontal path. Knuckles ducked down, forcing his head into his chest to leave himself less vulnerable. Lying on his right side, he peeked over his knees and shot his legs out towards Nack's left leg. Wrapping his feet around it, Knuckles pulled it towards him, forcing Nack to become off-balance. He fell onto his back, and Knux gave me a look of needed help.

If I weren't responsible for being the hero, I could've been sleeping now, but since no could fill me in, I had to help him. Nack was already beginning to get back up, so I had to act fast (but that wouldn't be a problem).

Have you seen those summer Olympic Games, and how they get in that position before those track events? I basically got in that same "track stance". I quickly assessed my situation and its solution: I had to get Knuckles out of trouble by getting rid of fang's knee-turret. Not easy for the average demolition guy, but I'm WAY more efficient than a demo-man.

I hadn't used it since our battle in Grand Metropolis, but I decided to use the Spindash. Keep in mind, for those who probably don't realize by now, I didn't get my upgrades together when we left the workshop, so all I had was my Homing Attack and my Spindash… and, of course, my fists. But that's not my strong suit.

I instantly generated a spinning force within me, and ended up forming a ball of razor sharp, kinetic energy. At the moment, I was building up momentum, which would help amplify my speed in this form. As soon as I built up enough energy, I released it and rolled down the road in a flash. I bet no has explained my Spindash so well… except Tails. He did the math and everything. I was impressed with his work (in fact, I pretty much copied all of his terms and put them in my explanation. Selfish, I know, but it was a better explanation than: a blue ball of spinning death).

I got closer and closer, to the point where Nack was just coming up to my right. As I turned right, I could hear Nack say,

"Crafty sonuva-."

Whoosh! I boar straight through the upper part of the knee. The circuits leading to the gun were severed, and so it stopped fiery. Nack had stopped his coarse statement and instead yelped out some coarse interjections I will not repeat.

Knuckles rose from the ground. He brushed off his shoulders, as if it was no problem (the fight felt like it had taken 15 minutes.) I held my hand out to thank Knux for the extra hand, but he simply strolled over to Nack as if I hadn't offered any thanks. Nack was beginning to spark a bit. He must've been fidgeting over losing his leg and his arm in his first encounter, but he was still online. I could tell something was keeping him alive.

"What are you hiding, Nack?" Knuckles asked him, determined to find his answer.

"Look into my eyes and tell me what I'm hiding." He demanded.

It sounded kind of… creepy at first, but we looked anyway. I looked into his red eye. It was glowing so bright, it could've blinded me. But then the light was beginning to dim, and I could make out a shiny object within it… a Chaos emerald, obviously.

As I knelt down, I began my last few words with Nack.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way." I told him.

"Don't even bother trying to apologize." He snapped back. "You've done enough to ruin me already."

"Nack, you know I never meant to hurt you."

"And yet you have."

"Listen, Nack. Even if we can't bring you back completely, we will try to get you back. Just let us get you back to the workshop. We can fix you there… right?"

"Sonic, you know the doc could control me again, right?"

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"How about my Emerald instead?"

"Is it acting as your power source?"

"In a way, yes."

"Why are you giving us all this info?" Knux asked. "You're basically betraying Robotnik."

He brought up a very good point. If Robotnik could control Nack whenever he wanted, how was he not shooting us or calling reinforcements? Better yet, why give away these secrets?

"You wouldn't do the same? I lied about my relations with the doc. My father and the other ancestors worked for him voluntarily, but I was forced into it. It's given me some benefits, but I've lost so much: my family, my home, and my normality. Now I'm an assassin on the run, with nowhere to live."

"What's stopping the doc from killing us now, though?"

"Something tells me you've done enough damage to take out my control chip. He can't 'use' me anymore. Without that control chip, I can't get back-up to get here… or, at least he can't get back-up here."

"So Robotnik basically controls half of your systems? That's devious."

"It's the beginning of his plan… and the beginning of your end."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have much time, so I'll leave you wit a choice: either take the Emerald in me or suffer from his plan. Unless you're fine with world domination, you might as well take the Emerald while you can."

"Nack?"

"Yes, Sonic?"

"This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you."

"Honestly, when I said you wouldn't have an eye anymore, I began to wonder if it'd backfire. I… guess it did."

I chuckled a bit. But then I realized something: Nack was smiling for once. He wasn't thinking of any nasty plots and kill schemes for once. He wasn't shrouded by past mistakes. He was free. He didn't have to listen to anyone. He could do what he wanted. But now he faced his sacrifice: giving his power source to us. I didn't feel good about doing it, but if it could help us stop Robotnik, I had to take that chance.

"See you on the other side." I said to him.

"I'll finally get to see what the others have entered into. Whether it be heaven or hell, I hope I can redeem myself somehow."

"Goodbye, Fang." Knux said to him.

"Please, call me Nack."

I heard a circuit burst, and I saw Nack's red light dim into darkness. His head slumped back onto the ground, and his body lay lifeless.

I couldn't believe those were his last words.

I closed my eyes as tears ran down my face like a slow river. While Nack did try to kill us (and also killed my Uncle Chuck and Sally), I still felt bad for his demise in the light of freedom. It was saddening to find that, just before he left us, he had accepted that he had now been freed. Had he freed himself sooner, this conflict never would've existed. But, sadly, it did.

I turned to Knuckles. He was contemplating something. I had stopped my running tears, because I knew he'd ask me something.

"What did he mean by 'the beginning of his plan' and 'the beginning of our end'?"

I turned back to Nack's body.

"I don't know…" I began.

I grabbed Nack's head and readied my fist.

"…but whatever he meant…" I continued.

I punched straight through the mechanical eye. I grabbed the Emerald as quickly as possible. I didn't want to desecrate his insides, even in death.

"…we certainly have to prepare for it." I finished, holding the red Chaos Emerald in my hand.

I then looked at the Emerald, and remember something else. That dream I had before… about the red gem and the fight in the sparks… it was linked to this. The red gem was the Emerald, the sparks signified Nack's circuitry dying, the red flash was Knuckles, and the red eye was Nack's. It all made sense.

I then recall thinking to myself: _Are my dreams foreshadowing what is to come?_ It seemed interesting to me; being able to see the future through dreams was an incredible. Of course, it's not exactly a great way to gain that kind of info, but it worked this time. I believed it'd help me a second time.

"Let's head back." Knuckles stated. "It's almost twelve."

"I one hundred percent agree." I replied. "You owe me a half hour of sleep."

A half hour? Felt like I needed eight at the least.

* * *

><p><strong>How long since I published a chapter? Eight days? Wow, sorry for the long wait, guys. I've been busy with schoolwork (essays, term papers, and all that jazz), but I'm back. I'm telling you right now: I won't be able to write Chapter XVI until Monday, because I'm going on a Long Weekend (where I'm "required" to leave campus. I get to hang out at my home and do family things.) I hope this chapter will help tide you over until the next one comes out on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.<strong>

**I took DIM666's suggestion and fitted Nack back into the story… and back out again. I know he had a short return, but I had to do something. Besides, I was actually planning on putting him back in like this way later in the story, but this seemed to work out better. Now, the echidnas have been explained, Nack's revealed more of the doc's plot, and we've got our third Chaos Emerald.**

**Just so you know, we have the green Emerald (from Omega in Grand Metropolis), the yellow Emerald (from the Babylon Rogues in Metal City), and the red Emerald (from Nack in Central City). If you've noticed, we haven't had Robotnik's forces show up until now. Could he and Sonic run into each other in their separate searches? Well, we'll see.**

**By the way, I've seen sonichater69's review. And I have to say: he has quite the vocabulary (Gobbledygook?). Hater's gonna hate, right? Anyways, try and mark those things as either spam or language. Otherwise, people will look at these reviews and get the wrong idea (you guys love this story… right?)**

**Well, don't forget to review and request! Read ya later!**


	17. The Past Carries On & The Big Truth

**Act II/Chapter XVI: **The Past Carries On & The Big Truth****

I woke up in my bed again, nearly sweating. I looked around the room again. Same old workshop, but with a few different things in it. First of all, Knuckles was passed out on the floor. I was laying passively on the futon. We both were hurt a lot by our fight with Nack, so we were incredibly tired as well.

Secondly, our gear, which was damaged during our encounter with Nack the other night, was spread out across the room. One of my burnt shoes was lying at the foot of the futon, the other next Knux. Knux kept his shoes on, considering his weren't burnt by the explosive missiles.

I really don't know how we survived that. It was like those missiles only _looked_ threatening. I thought that maybe Nack was never supposed to be that powerful. Robotnik obviously had more to his plan. To stop at Nack would leave him vulnerable for a final, quick confrontation. When Nack told us of "the beginning of our end", I knew the doc had a plot so great that it was just getting started.

I laid my head back on my pillow. I could feel soreness throughout my arms and legs. Nack had beaten me up good. He definitely put up a better fight than last time (Last time, we were on a sinking ship. In Central city, he at least wasn't experiencing vertigo).

I heard Knuckles groaning. I recalled his broken arm from last night. I never confirmed whether Nack's missiles caused it (probably not) or if the landing did. I could never get a clear answer. Knux always said, "It happened so fast, it felt like I was hit by the missile and the ground at the same time." I understood his claim, but I knew it wasn't logical.

Speaking of logical, I could hear Tails yawn as he stepped down the stairs. He probably just woke up, because when he walked in, his eyelids were sinking so low, his pupils barely showed. I thought he was sleep-walking, but I realized that sleep-walking in the morning sounded ludicrous. When he walked into my view, I noticed also that his front hair was all messy. His shoes weren't on, so I knew he hadn't gone off anywhere during the night. He seemed like your average 12 year old in the morning.

But when I greeted him, he yawned as he said, 'Good morning, Sonic," and rubbed his eyes, When he finally opened them… let's just say that he couldn't process what happened to us right away.

"What did you guys do to yourselves?' he asked, sounding like he was fearing for our lives.

I stood from the futon, feeling strain in my legs, and explained the whole battle to him. I could feel his fear at every one of Nack's punches described in detail, his joy at his simple defeat, his sorrow at his solemn death. That seemed like an emotional and mental rollercoaster ride in itself.

"But you guys are fine now?' he asked, after a long explanation.

"Well, Knux broke his arm," I answered, "and my feet are still slightly burnt from my shoes."

"Not again."

Yes, my shoes were burnt in metal city before, but Tails noticed that they were only slight burns. He was able to simply wash them and give them back, with only a few little smudges. Here, my shoes were absolutely gone. There was no way I was bringing them back to new quality. While Tails complained about my stupidity in battle, he still volunteered to fix the problem.

"I'll make you some new ones."

"Oh, you don't have to. I mean, if you insist, you may do it. It's just that I don't want you to spend time making something that's gonna fried the next day."

"Sonic… those shoes have lasted since your third birthday. At least that's what you've told me. I implanted the Homing Device only a couple years after I'd known you. I didn't make the shoes, your Uncle Chuck did."

He had a point. My Uncle Chuck lured me into the living room on my birthday. I never acknowledged it was that day, though. I really only thought of it as another day full of presents. He sat me on the couch next to him. He told me to close my eyes, and I did as he said. A few seconds later, he said to me, "I know you're peeking." I grinned to myself, thinking with my big vocabulary: _Curses! Foiled again!_

He asked me to reach my hands out, with my palms facing the ceiling. I didn't know what he meant by "palms facing the ceiling", so he simply told me, "The second step of our handshake." I acknowledged it with a big "Ahhh!", then assumed my position. I felt something drop in my hands, and as I opened my eyes, I knew that describing it in words then would still be harder now.

The red overwhelmed my eyes, the sunlight from the window behind the couch embellishing on the glorious paint job of the pair. The white straps served as a small blanket for my shoe, a barrier that satisfied my comfort within the shoes. The gold buckle helped secure its small shelter. My uncle told me a little later that it seemed like I'd found true love. I hated him saying that, but now I realize it was simply a joke.

But you know what was ironic about that whole scenario: that was the last time I ever saw Uncle Chuck while he was alive. Next, a police officer at the door, informing me of his situation. Watching him being carried into an ambulance, with me being held back as I urged the paramedics to let him go. I felt like they were taking him away. I later came to that revelation that Nack did it. A childhood memory, now a nightmare that carries on into the present. My life is always filled with memories coming back to get me. The time-travel incident was just a taste of it.

"I'll have them ready by tomorrow morning." Tails informed me.

"But do you know how to create those shoes again?" I inquired.

Uncle Chuck was an excellent craftsman. He somehow found these materials that could resist the amount of friction I pressed against the ground. I don't recall the name, but it was very resistant to vibration, making it suitable for fast-paced foot chases and races. Whatever he found, it has helped me.

"I inspected your shoes back when I made the Homing Module. I laid out a blueprint of each segment needed to create it."

"Do you have the materials to help them at least resist shock?"

Tails was in the middle of walking to the stairs, but then he turned to me and said,

"Maybe more than that."

I was amused by this. He had something better than Uncle Chuck's stuff? This I had to see, but I couldn't. The second I tried to follow Tails, my legs felt a streak of pain within them. Nack really did a number on us that other night. Tails stopped his ascension up the stairs and came to my aid.

"Here, Sonic. Take a seat on the futon."

As I sat down, my knees cringed at the movement. I could tell that I could have been stuck like that for a while. I kept thinking about my duties, what people would think if I didn't help them… but I began to think about something that never really crossed my mind since my fight with the Babylon Rogues.

"This is a sign." I said aloud.

"What sign?" Tails asked, unaware of my inquiry's true meaning.

"Considering my fight with Nack, which left me injured… this is getting dangerous."

"You've done this stuff before… and, in addition to that, you've always succeeded!"

"But why am I getting serious injuries now? How come Robotnik's pillar-stomper machine didn't make me break a sweat, but Nack is somehow able to chew away at my body's strength?"

By the way, that pillar-stomper thing… that's some stupid machine that Robotnik came up with when I got to his base. I always regard the place as the 'Final Zone", considering that's where Robotnik stood his ground for the last time… or so I thought.

"Maybe Nack got something else along with his robot parts."

"What would that be? Robo-steroids? I don't think so. But back to my point, should I even still be doing this? Risking my neck just to have every other part utterly beaten?"

"You're doing it for the people who can't do it."

"Why can't someone else do it? I'm already getting stuff messed up more than it already is. I've raised the acid level in Grand Metropolis and took away a valuable government asset. I've sent a band of thieves, whom were a family at heart, to jail. I've even sent an enemy, who didn't deserve death, into the afterlife. What am I gonna goof up next?"

At this point, I was stressed out, my face aimed at the ground. My hands were gripping the sides of my head, ready to break in and crush my brain if need be. I was seriously considering dropping this whole thing. Playing the hero for four years of my seventeen year life so far… it felt like a burden. Why couldn't I just disappear from the heroes list, like the Chaotix did?

But then Tails guided me towards a calmer state.

"Just take it easy, big bro. If you face danger, then we'll face danger. We'll do whatever you do, as long as we can do it together. Yes, I'm sure being the main go-to guy can be difficult, but you've kept going. Why? Because the people out there are rooting for you. They want you to succeed, any way possible. If they were given a chance to help you, they'd take it."

I began to feel a soft spot generate within my aggravated self.

"Could we do that?"

"Well, we can't just get random civilians to join our cause. While they do support you, and I'm sure they do, they may not be in fighting shape."

"So who will we get, then?"

Tails contemplated this. He looked out the window across from the futon, writing the answer with his rampant eyes.

"I've got some ideas. But now, you need some rest. Try and relax. We need you to get back on your feet, but we can't risk you losing mobility as quickly as you get it back."

I leaned back on my pillow. Tails assured me that he'd get someone to help. I wanted to suggest some people, but they were mostly average Mobians. As I closed my eyes and began to drift off, I heard Tails walking upstairs and out of sight. I began to wonder what I'd do while he was away from me, but the best thing to do then was to simply sleep. So that's what I did.

* * *

><p>I woke up to the sound of a gasp. The individual who spouted it scurried over to me. I felt her sit near me on the futon, where I was lying down. The person seemed strange at first, but their first question gave away who it really was.<p>

"Are you okay, Sonic?" they asked, in a high-pitched, female voice

It was Amy.

"Amy?" I asked in a tired voice. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in here?"

"Tails called me over and said he'd leave the door unlocked. He wanted to take care of you while he went out."

"Out? Out where?"

"I'm not sure. He said something about 'getting people to help us'. My guess is that he's getting people to help take care of you."

"Let's hope so. I'm not feeling so hot."

"Well, if any one of those people that help you cause you any trouble, you can call me."

"I will… when my arm isn't sore."

Amy chuckled a little. She had this light-hearted and sweet laugh. It made me think of a breeze blowing by, hiccupping at the end. I'm sure you've met at least one girl with that laugh.

"What hurt you this?"

"It was Nack."

She stared at me blankly.

"I never told you about him, did I?"

Am shoke her head. So, on I went about Nack's past, my encounter with him on the boat, and then the fight the night before. Amy began to consider what had happened and, like Tails, felt sad when I got hurt in my story.

"When will you be better?"

"Hopefully, tomorrow morning. Tails didn't give me an exact date, so now I have to guess."

"Well, don't get too anxious to get on your feet again. We could lose you."

I sensed another cliché romance line around the corner.

"I could lose you." She rephrased.

I groaned a little bit. I told you it was cliché!

"You know, Sonic? I never got an answer."

"To what?" I inquired, unaware of what I walked myself into.

"Do you care about me?"

_Oh, boy_. This was it. I was stuck on the couch, not able to even speed off without breaking my legs on the floor. I should've known I'd get stuck here. When Amy is around me, I know she'll stick in some romantic question to get me to consider her. However, this was nothing to consider. This was something that she wanted me to answer now.

Remember, back when I introduced Amy, I mentioned my problem with relationships? Well, continuing what I was saying then, I not against relationships with girls, but my problem is… well, actually, I confessed it to her.

"Amy, let me tell one thing that would get in the way of it: I wouldn't be there for you."

"What?"

"I don't want to start something and leave you alone. I'm afraid you'll feel… deserted if I go off on a journey. I won't know if you're safe or not. I could never live like I am now, knowing you'd be in danger… and that's the truth."

Amy was beginning to tear up, blushing at the cheeks. Did I say what she wanted me to say?

"You're afraid of losing me?"

"To answer your question more simply… Yes, Amy. I do care about you. I want what's nest for you. It's just that… I'm afraid of what will become of you here while I'm gone."

Amy managed to work up this joyful smile.

"But I'm here… and so are you."

I have to admit… she had a point.

When she said that, I knew what was coming. Sal and I could never execute it right, considering someone would always interrupt it. But this time, I knew it would finally happen. Amy began to lean down to my head on the pillow, and I began to lean forward as much as I could to meet her.

As we got closer, our eyes began to close, our heads tilted. She pushed her lips out, and I did the same. I knew there was no turning back, and our lips locked.

I could feel this sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through me. But it wasn't this action-packed, combat adrenaline, like I get in most battles. It was this relaxed state; I felt as though nothing else mattered. I could almost swear that time slowed down just for us.

And for once, it felt like I had truly answered my question.

It felt like I had truly stopped running.

* * *

><p><strong>Aww! That was actually a great chapter to write. Now, believe, I suck at romance as much as the next guy, but this is my favorite couple out of them all. This one actually makes sense, and I've always wondered how it'd happen.<strong>

**When you're writing a story, do find the characters guiding the story instead of you? Well, that's what it felt like in this chapter, especially during Sonic's conversation with Amy. I never thought Amy would ask him, in this crippled state. I planned on doing it later. But this actually works more in my favor. You'll see why later.**

**Anyways, I know the last two chapters, including this one, have had much information installed into this Sonic universe. But it's all worth noting. It affects the characters in some way. Counting the echidna history, Fang's past relations with the doc, and Sonic's amazing/corrupt third birthday, that's about two chapters filled with three new ingredients for the adventure. Exciting, huh?**

**Anyways, I hoped enjoyed this chapter. This really was used to get some back-story explained, a relationship to play in with the whole adventure, and even the intro of the "ally phase", where we will begin to search for people to join our cause. Act II ain't over yet, but I can assure you of one thing: we're nearly halfway.**

**Don't forget to review and request! Hope you guys enjoyed Chapter XVI and I hope you'll enjoy Chapter XVII this Saturday. Read ya later!**


	18. The Big Reveal & The Icy Locale

**Act II/Chapter XVII: The Big Reveal & The Icy Locale**

After that kiss, Amy and I cuddled up on the futon and fell asleep. It felt nice to be next to someone after all that had happened. To be with someone

While that entire scenario was the most relaxing part of my day, there was one part that I thought was quite amusing: Tails. I remember waking up, only opening my eyes to slightly look around the room. Amy was curled up at my left shoulder, as my back rested against the corner where the seat of the couch meets the back of the couch.

Only a few minutes after that, I heard the front door knob turn. I couldn't think of anything to say to the person walking in, so I merely acted normal.

I saw Tails walk in, focusing on the door before turning to me.

"Hi, Son-." He began, but catching sight of Amy and I in the process. "Uh…"

He didn't see this coming at all.

_This'll be hard to explain_, I thought to myself.

"Uh…" Tails repeated.

"Tails, I know this looks weird, but I can explain."

Tails looked at me confused.

"When I called her over, I didn't think it turn into this."

"We only kissed. Nothing 'weird' happened."

Tails shot me a look of slight disbelief, as if he knew me.

"We merely laid down on the futon!" I told him.

Amy was beginning to wake up, so I decided to quiet down a little.

"Why'd you guys end up like this anyway?" Tails continued asking.

"Well…" I looked down at Amy, who looked as pretty as ever with the sun illuminating the beauty of her face.

"You can tell him." She told me, turning her head and eyes towards me.

I looked up at Tails. I motioned Amy to sit up right. When we both were sitting on the futon, side by side, I took hold of her left hand. After she took my right, I said,

"We're together now. For real this time."

I remember smiling at Amy when I said that last part. I wanted to let her know that nothing would me from being with her anymore.

Tails just looked at us blankly. He then gritted his teeth in an odd way, nodding slightly up and down. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, he said,

"This could take some getting used to."

Amy and I chuckled. Tails was beginning to act like a mature adult for some reason. I couldn't figure out why. I asked him,

"Why so serious?"

"I just went out to find some people to help us."

"To help Sonic recover?" Amy asked.

"Not that kind of help." Tails answered.

"Actually," I pointed out. "I'm feeling much better than I did two hours ago."

"Well, that's a relief, isn't it?" Tails asked rhetorically.

"So who'd you get?"

Tails sat down at the table nearest to the kitchen.

"You'd be surprised. I actually went back to Metal City… to talk to a certain group of rogues."

"You talked to them? What happened?"

"Well, thankfully, they were still behind bars from our last encounter, so it wasn't as bad as you'd think."

"Is this what you guys were up to when you kicked me out?" Amy asked me.

"Yes…" I answered, "Sadly."

"Sadly what? Sadly, I was right?"

"Sadly, you were kicked out."

Tails was shaking his head at my line, but I caught a smirk on his face.

"Anyways,' Tails continued, "I requested I would talk to them without police interference. Somehow, they let me do it. Can you imagine that: A 12 year-old asking an officer to interrogate a prisoner? What are the odds?"

"That's why you're my lil' bro: always has his way. Like any normal kid.

"Yeah, but how many normal kids do you see walking around with two tails?"

"How many do you see that are super fast and have a repertoire of cheesy one-liners?"

"You're the one and only!"

"They're not cheesy." Amy interrupted. "They're sweet."

I could see Tails face-palm himself.

"Anyways, I began to talk to the rogues about their efforts for the Emerald."

"What'd you find out?"

"That they really hated us. Oh, but they did have something important. Apparently, the rogues have not only been looking for ways to survive, but have also been trying to raise the city of Babylon once again."

"I thought it was destroyed."

"That's what the textbooks say. The Rogues have found proof that Babylon is simply buried in the sands."

"How does this pertain to the current affair?"

"In order to raise Babylon, the Rogues have been tasked-or have tasked themselves, rather- to gather together the linked artifacts that can help pinpoint Babylon and raise it."

"The Chaos Emeralds?"

"Exactly. Apparently, they have the power to force the city from its burial site. The Babylon rogues have searching for these Emeralds for a while. Unfortunately for them, they could never gather them up because-."

"We were getting them more quickly."

"It seems so."

"Okay, so they need the Emeralds to raise their city, but they can't get the Emeralds now. They're locked up. Again, how does this pertain to the current affair?"

"I asked them, since they were on a grand search for the Emeralds, if they had any idea where the others might be. Fortunately, they gave me coordinates to look at."

"How convenient that they had them. How'd you get them? I'm sure the Rogues didn't just let you have the place without some sort of deal."

"I promised them the Emeralds when this was all finished."

"Well, that worked out better than I expected."

"Wait, it gets better. I told them that Robotnik was planning something big, and that we needed all the help we could get to stop it. They agreed to help us, and the police officer told me that we could call upon them whenever we needed them."

"Definitely worked out better than I expected."

"Is Knuckles okay?" Amy asked, as if she hadn't concentrated on our last few sentences.

Dang. I forgot about him by that point. He was still sprawled out on the floor. I was surprised he hadn't woken up yet. He was beat up pretty badly, but not so bad that he'd be a coma for days. I decided to try to wake him up.

When I was walking over to get him awake, I began to think about how he'd saved me from the waters and woke me up on Angel Island. Felt like so long ago.

I knelt and tapped his cheek a couple times. No movement. I flicked his nose, but still no movement. I pinched his eyelid and pulled it up to see his actual eye, and not even a twitch.

"Knuckles?" I said soothingly. "Earth to Knuckles, you there?"

He began to groan. His arms began to move up. He was still alive… but why would he not be?

"Ugh…" he groaned, "what's going on?"

You've been out for a while now." Tails said. "You were fighting-."

I shushed Tails before he could say anything. He shot me a "what was that for?" look. I gave a smirk back and looked down at Knuckles.

"You've been asleep for 500 years." I joked. I could see Tails face-palm himself. "It is the year 2512. In this time, everyone has a lethal disease that kills every third day of their life. This is your first. Have-!"

I couldn't finish it not because I was laughing too hard, but because Knux had punched really hard in the face. But, even after that, I was laughing still.

"Sonic," Amy commented, "You dolt!"

At this point, I wasn't sure what I was laughing at: The joke I played on Knux, his reaction, or Amy's comment. I felt almost free of responsibility, like I didn't need to be a hero right now. I felt like an average citizen again. It had been 3 years since I last felt that way. When you're seventeen and saving the world, you don't usually have time to be funny… the operative word there being "usually".

"What's happened?" Knuckles asked Tails.

"You've been asleep since the midnight last night, we found a new emerald locale, and Sonic and Amy are together."

Now I was laughing at Knux's face. It was absolutely priceless.

"Sonic? Amy? Together? I really must be in the future then."

Now I wanted to punch his face. That was a low blow on my part.

"You wanna repeat that?" I asked him.

"Sure. Knuckles replied, but he instantly regretted saying that when Amy stood behind him with her hammer across her shoulder.

"Go ahead." She commanded. "Say it."

Knuckles turned to her and blinked twice.

"On second thought…" he said.

I love it when that happens.

* * *

><p>Tails and I were in the lower labs beneath the workshop. Amy had left already, but promised to get me something for later that night (I hoped for chili dogs). Knuckles was now resting on this medical table in the ab. His left was still twisted and bent out of shape. Tails was scanning him for possible non-lethal treatments.<p>

"He'll be fine, right?" I asked him.

"Oh, yeah!' Tails replied. "Of course he will! Luckily, Nack only gave him some minor damage, so it's nothing some bandages can't handle."

"Will his arm move correctly again?"

"I'll have to inspect several shops to look for the right thing, but I think I can get just the substance that can get his arm back."

Just then, I remembered something that would be a vital piece for our next outing.

"How are my shoes coming along?"

"Actually, I'm almost done with them. When you went back to sleep at 8 am, I called Amy and told her to get here by 12 noon. From what I can tell, she did just that. In the hours before she came here, however, I was looking at blueprints of your sneakers. Good thing I mapped them out while inserting those Homing Devices. In any case, I checked out the old one, and began a new design. I think you'll like it better than the last one."

"Really? What's it looking like?"

"Well, it will let you grind again. I'll tell you that much."

"When will they be finished?"

"In a few hours. Just be patient, and we'll be heading out in no time."

"My god! That close? I can almost see them. I just need a definite shape, and I'm in!"

"Just keep it together. Besides, we're making good time here. We have three of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and it's only been three days since we found out about Robotnik's plot."

"You have a good point. Maybe we won't fail."

"That's the Sonic I like: the one that's always confident in our ways. You're making such a big turn around from how you've been acting before that it's becoming almost surreal."

"Thanks, lil' bro. I'm glad to have someone like you at my side."

Tails smiled that little smile. He always seemed cheerful in some way. Whether he was flying through a big attack or crafting some new machine, he'd always be somewhat happy. I think that he just wanted to be like me: at the center of the action… and attention.

"I'll just head back up to the workshop, if you don't mind." I said to him.

"Please do." He responded. "Besides, Knuckles needs the rest, and I still have to finish your shoes."

I headed over to a sliding door, which opened up to an elevator room. It was quite shiny, but the entire underground lab was just as clear and waxed as that elevator was. I pressed the button for workshop, and the elevator shot up quickly, almost like a bullet. But I'm faster than a bullet, so it felt absolutely normal.

I felt a sudden stop, but my momentum, which I gained from the flying room, carried me up still. I bashed my head into the ceiling and fell back on the waxed floor. The elevator itself was about two feet in diameter, so I felt crammed in the little thing.

The doors slid open, and my legs fell down onto the wooden floor of the workshop. I quickly got up and exited the elevator, which then shut its doors. I could hear it zoom down the shaft towards the lab level.

I walked up the stairs to Tails's room, and walked out onto the balcony. Resting my forearms on the railing, I looked out across the yard. I could look out to my left and see the ocean, a vast blue beauty that surrounded the very protection of Mobius's engine: the "Crystal Core".

People call it the "Crystal Core" simply because some scientist theorized that, while mining into the planet, he could have sworn that he found the core, which was shining bright blue. Of course, he only saw it for a few seconds, because he apparently, as he put it, "felt an entity watching me from beyond, and shivers went down my spine". I still don't know what he meant by "felt an entity", but that was not my main focus. I was supposed to kill time waiting for my new shoes.

But as I daydreamed into the horizon, I saw a bright flash within my eyesight. Squinting at it, it began to envelope my entire self. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>A few moments later, I could have sworn I was on a giant mountain top. I looked around to survey my situation… and it seemed different than anything I'd seen.<p>

The sun beamed across the sky, enlightening each detail with its glorious embellishing rays. The mountain was glowing yellow from the sunlight hitting the snow. It was about noon, I figured. I noticed that I had a snowboard in my right hand, one end plated firmly in the snow beneath my feet. I eyed a scarf around my neck, neatly stitched with blue and green thread.

As I looked down the slope, I saw something moving. It looked like a sort of… polar bear on a snowboard. I know, it didn't make sense to me either, but half of my world makes no sense. He had a scarf, snow hat, big and puffy gloves, and, obviously, white fur. I never got a clear look at his face, but that didn't matter.

I suddenly felt this urge to get him. I didn't know my mindset, let alone what had transpired before this. I was perplexed, until I determined the most obvious explanation: this was a dream… or a nightmare. It all depended on the outcome.

I threw my snowboard in front of me, launched myself forward, and landed on it left foot in front. I began my steady and quick descent down the mountainside. I found myself sailing over little natural ramps, surfing on snowy half-pipes, and pulling tricks as I flew off the edges of each. It felt familiar… almost like… the Ice Caps?

I began to reach the bear, but then I heard something: a big yell from behind, calling me out. I felt it echo as it began its journey to my ears. I turned around and sighted a little plane zooming over the mountain. I had a feeling that it was Tails who shouted at me. But then, my mind focused on something a bit more troublesome.

I noticed the snow at the top begin to slowly vibrate. Next, it began to swarm the mountaintop a bit quicker. It reached its final stage, causing a full scale avalanche to commence.

Some kids just don't consider the bad side of decisions, do they? Well, I guess that comes with growing up.

The rampaging snow continued its conquest down the mountain. As I continued down, I noticed that I was moving slower than the avalanche. This was becoming more of a nightmare by the second. I tried to get off the board and run, but my feet were pretty much super-glued to the board. I looked back to see the avalanche only a yard away. I braced myself for the impact, but as I felt the snow reach me, I heard a voice. The millisecond the voice had sounded, everything faded to black.

The voice seemed familiar… only because I had heard it only a day before this. It was Jet, mockingly saying to me,

"Fastest thing alive, huh?"

You know what? In retrospect, knowing the future before it happens can be a real downpour on your mood.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry once again. I promised Saturday, but I put it up on Monday. You're probably asking me, "What took you so long?". Well, I just came up with a new story idea. Absolutely fresh! However, it has nothing to do with fan fiction. So, sadly, this idea is not fan fiction material. But don't fret about it; I'm merely laying the groundwork for it before I really crack down on it. Broken Dreams is still my main focus…<strong>

…**which brings me to my question. I want ask you guys something that will help in the long run. This will not concern spoilers about the story, and will only be considered if many of you want it. I will post a poll up on my profile to take official votes. The reviews will be for reviews and requests only. Make sure to remember that. Now, onto the question: Would you like this book to turn into a series of books?**

**Please vote on this on my profile. I've been kicking the idea around for several weeks, and now I've decided to let the thoughts run wild. This won't do anything to the first book except change its title. Please place your votes by May 2nd, 2012.**

**By the way, I plan on finishing this story by the first few days of June. I know, my pace right now certainly makes it seem less likely, but I have an announcement (which is really unimportant): my term paper rough draft is due this Wednesday, so when that day arrives, expect me to have more free-time for writing!**

**Anyways, help spread the story 'round, tell me what you think about the "series" idea, and look forward to more chapters this Thursday (I promise). Read ya later!**


	19. Nostalgic, Yet Freezing

**Act II/Chapter XVIII: Nostalgic, Yet Freezing**

"Sonic! Wake up!"

I began to gain my vision back. I could make out the ceiling of a room, made of wooden planks. I heard a voice to my right, urging me to wake up. As soon as I began moving, they became relieved.

"Oh my god! Don't do that again!"

I looked to my right to find Amy looking absolutely at ease at the sight of me. I knew the voice sounded familiar. Tails was in his computer seat, which had been rolled over next to Amy, at my bedside.

"Ugh…" I began, "That was-."

"Frightening!" Amy interrupted. "I thought you were dead!"

I looked over at Amy with a "typical Amy" look (Like a "what did you say?" kind of look.).

"I was gonna say strange, but… I guess 'frightening' works, too."

"Strange?" Tails inquired. "What was strange?"

"Is it my dress?" Amy asked me.

Again, I gave her a "typical Amy" look.

"No, it's not your dress." I responded.

"Are you sure it's not my dress?"

"I'm positive."

"Because if you're lying and it actually was my dress that was strange, then I definitely won't talk to you anymore."

"Amy, it wasn't your dress. It looks just like it always has."

Amy squinted her eyes at me.

"Which is?" she asked, obviously regarding my true opinion of her dress.

I was getting nervous, but I knew just what to do.

"Just like you: stylish and beautiful."

I saw her blush and chuckle. Tails… well, he face-palmed himself again.

"Anyways," Tails continued, "What was actually strange, Sonic?"

I began to talk about my vision… you know, where the icy mountain chase/avalanche took place. Felt like I was really there, too. Amy was frightened by the ending. I even included that little detail after the avalanche… of Jet's insult. Amy was determined to beat him up if he said it to me in front of her, but Tails acted different. He looked at the bed sheets, contemplating something of interest.

At this moment, I remembered I was in Tails's bed. I quickly regained my bearings and turned myself to be sitting on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm fine. A little fall to the floor won't be hurting this hedgehog. Honestly, it felt like a blanket of snow."

How ironic, huh?

"By the way, Tails," I asked, "where do the coordinates the Rogues gave you point you to?"

"Well, by the looks of it… I think it's the Ice Caps."

I knew there was something familiar about that place.

"Which ones? The Ice Caps on Angel Island?"

"Nope. They point to the ones somewhat near Station Square. You know, the extremely mountainous ones… like the ones in your dream."

"How ironic. When will we be heading off?"

"Well, let's see… what's the time, Amy?"

"It's…" Amy looked at the clock on the side-table, "2:20 pm."

"Well, we'd better get going if we want to find the Emerald." Tails commented.

I then noticed something different about my feet, but it was something I'd already taken note of. Tails must've noticed my eyes directed to my feet, because he assured me that my new shoes were ready.

"Really? When did I pass out exactly?"

"My bet is… about 50 minutes ago."

"Dang! Heh, and you thought those shoes would be done in a few hours."

"Just come on down. We'll need to get to the Ice Caps before the sun sets."

"Why? What happens when the sun sets there?"

Tails began to walk down the stairs. Amy and I followed him down.

"Well, you see, the Ice caps on South Island have predictable weather patterns. It will always be covered in snow and snowy weather. It's one of those 'fixated climate' regions that scientists always theorized about. Apparently, at night, a big snowstorm overwhelms the mountains, making it impossible to even get in without some sort of special equipment. We don't have anything that special."

By this point, we were getting into the elevator to the lower lab.

"I see. Makes sense that we should use this time wisely."

"What if you guys end up stuck in that storm?" Amy asked, fearing for our lives… most likely mine.

Tails didn't put an answer out right away, but he was determined to give her an answer.

"I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Something told me that Amy didn't exactly like that answer.

"Don't worry, Amy." I said to her, wanting to get rid of the tension. "We'll both be back. In fact, when I get back, I'll take you out somewhere, to help you loosen up. You know, in case you get really scared for my life."

"R-r-really?" she said.

"Of course."

The elevator doors opened. As I walked out to see the Tornado-III once again, Tails called me over to my right. I noticed this glass casing sitting on a counter on that side of the room. I quickly ran over there (took me about ten seconds… could've been less than one second if I had the shoes on.).

When I arrived, I noticed just what it was, and I became excited. I saw these maroon sneakers, shining under the great lab lights. The white straps seemed like strips of a blanket, stitched to perfection, as if they were made just for the shoe. The golden buckle seemed to be the same rectangular shape, except for the fact that the corners were slanted diagonally towards the shoe's surface. The most intriguing part, however, was not any of these, but what was at the bottom.

The soles still kept that gray color, but there was a major design change: a big hump at the middle of each shoe. This made me remember my adventure with the ARK; I used to have shoes that had that same design. Of course, I really bought those at a random store (I wore my running shoes inside of them… those store shoes were pretty big!). You know what these humps let me do? They helped me grind and board. Of course, I've grinded in my normal, flat-soled shoes before, but these were much more efficient in terms of grinding.

Tails lifted the glass, letting the shoes get a good first breath of real life.

"Go ahead." Tails said. "Put them on."

I have to admit, Tails did a splendid on the shoes. I really envy him now. Those shoes, to me at least, seemed almost like something Uncle Chuck would actually make. It made me feel somewhat nostalgic. I have to admit: it was great having Tails as my lil' bro.

I reached out and grasped onto the shoes, lifting them up to take them neatly off the rack they were placed on. As I placed them on the floor, I began to slip into each. I released the straps, slipped each foot in, rebuckled them, and marveled at their exact fit.

"You like 'em?" Tails asked, unsure of my reaction.

I looked up at Tails. He obviously had no idea that my mind was dancing like a Mexican jumping bean at the sight of these shoes. I put on my trademark smirk, except it felt a lot more like a smile.

"Like 'em?" I repeated. "I love 'em!"

Tails was near tears, but I hugged him to keep him from losing it. As he hugged back, I remember the first day I met Tails. Back then, when I found him after I defeated Robotnik for the first time, he looked depressed. He told me about how he had lost his parents and brother, all because of the doctor. He told me he had no one. However, I held out my hand and told him,

"You have me."

That moment defined our friendship and our brotherhood. He'd follow me wherever I went, idolizing me and imagining me as the perfect superhero. Of course, under these circumstances, I'm not exactly classified as a hero… more like a random dude with powers.

As we relinquished our hug, we hopped into the Tornado-III. As its engine powered up and began humming louder and louder, I noticed that Amy was watching us from the right of the plane.

"What should I do while you're gone?" she asked.

"Take care of Knux." Tails suggested. "He's got a broken arm, you know."

"Will you guys need anything?"

"It's okay, ma." I joked. "I'm sure we'll survive our first day at school.

"Just be careful, okay?"

The plane's boosters began powering up, and were ready to zoom across the underground runway.

"I'm always care-!"

The plane began driving down the tunnel, and I fell off the top of the wings, and into the seat behind Tails, head first. I don't even remember where we were for the first half of the trip because of that.

* * *

><p>"We're getting close!" Tails announced.<p>

I looked out of the back seat to view my surroundings. It was funny, considering all I really saw was a giant snowstorm! Of course, it wasn't exactly lethal, but I still didn't know where we were going. Thank God for Tails being an expert pilot, right?

It was cold! And I mean COLD! The snow was not only impairing my sight, but it was covering me in a frosty temperature that I didn't like one bit. Don't you hate when you're stuck in horrible weather, and you want to go back to your house, but you _have_ get to your destination first? Yeah, that's what I felt like.

I could feel the plane get closer to the ground. I got that little "stomach jumping" feeling as I descended. You guys know what I mean by that, right ("stomach jumping" feeling)? Suddenly, I felt the plane slowly nudge the ground. Tails was so swift with his piloting skills that he was able to land and stop his plane without running into anything… but it was very rare when that happened.

As I climbed out, I felt snow at my feet, but I could barely see my feet, anyway. It wasn't because the snow was too deep (which it actually wasn't), but it was because of that stupid snowstorm blocking my eyesight. It was really beginning get annoying.

"Sonic?" Tails asked me.

I was wondering if he had wandered off somewhere and he was trying to find me, but he sounded close, right next to me, in fact.

"Take these." He said, handing me my SatAm backpack. I knew I'd forgotten something! When I opened it up, I saw all of my upgrades packed in… along with lunch.

"You put a chili dog in here?" I asked.

"I knew you'd be hungry after passing out so many times."

Before I laid my hands on my food, I snatched my upgrades and slipped them on. My LSD Modules, Flame Ring, and the Crystal Ring were all there. I slipped on my backpack, and began munching on my chili dog as we traversed the snowy landscape.

I couldn't really make anything out, but Tails seemed to know where he was going. I believed that he had some sort of special sight or something or maybe even some sort of robotic implant disabling any dysfunction to bad weather, but I figured out what he was using to find his way around: the Emerald Radar. I actually forgot about that thing.

After about five minutes of searching, we ran back into the Tornado-III (we literally bumped into it. Of course, we couldn't really see it, but we knew that metal was not a natural formation in snowy mountain ranges). We got frustrated, and began kicking the plane. Of course, I kept kicking; Tails kicked it once, felt sorry, apologized, and then tried to think logically. However, while I was kicking the little jet plane, I heard Tails make an interesting point about our environment.

"I think the weather is lightening up. Are you beginning to see the plane again?"

I stopped kicking, and looked back at the Tornado (or at least where I thought it was). Sure enough, I could make out the newly polished red metal plates of the airborne vehicle. Of course, part of it was covered with snow, but it would melt after the weather really settled down.

"Can you see anything?" I asked.

"I…think so." He responded.

Only a little after he said that, I began to see it, too.

It was a huge mountain that rivaled the height that Angel Island held above sea level. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd come back here; the last time I came here, I was nearly crushed by an avalanche. And if my dreams could show me the future…

Tails and I began to trudge through the snow, still being bombarded by the snowstorm at hand. Tails told me it was 2:40 pm, and that we only had four or so hours until the bad weather would hit. This didn't feel good. It felt like we'd get stuck here, being whirled about in the winds. Obviously, I didn't want that.

As we closed in, I noticed that there was small opening near the base of the mountain. It wasn't exactly roomy, but it gave just enough space for someone to squeeze through.

"Let's try there." I suggested. "We might b able to squeeze through."

Tails led me to the crack, and he inspected before readying himself to go through. As he squirmed through, I could hear him mumble,

"Thank god I'm not cluster phobic."

I would've said "No kidding,", but I think he'd have liked to keep his thought to himself.

I followed Tails through the crack. Every time I brushed up against the ice, I got this chill that ran down my spine, stepping these land mines of nerves that made me twitch. I think I caught Tails looking back at me once, too. I must've made some weird noises if he heard me.

I heard Tails pop out of the crevice, so I followed suit. As I began to make my way out, I heard him make a light puff in the snow. As I got my head out, I saw Tails below me. He backed away from the landing zone, knowing that being crushed by me wasn't exactly the best experience.

After 1 minute of trying, I gave up. Tails was fed up with me. He even said,

"Now I realize feeding you that chili dog was not a good idea."

"I can get out!" I responded. "Just… give me a second."

One second went by.

"Time! Come on, you can't seriously be stuck in there."

"Wait! I have an idea."

"Uh, oh."

"Don't worry. We'll be fine… for the most part."

Just then, I heard something out of the ordinary.

"I can help with that." A mysterious voice said from afar.

As I looked around from within the crevice, I began to notice myself being able to breathe more and more. As I looked down at my stomach area, I noticed that the ice encasing me was simply moving away from my body. I thought my legs were simply running and somehow moving the ice… but that was way past far-fetched.

Once there was enough room, I fell out from the crack unexpectedly and into the snow, head first. It was at least knee deep, so I survived without gaining a concussion. Tails grabbed my legs and began to pull me out, but then I heard a sort of punch sound. I felt my feet get pushed away by some sort block shooting upwards. I didn't know happened to Tails then, but I knew he was definitely hit by someone.

As I began to push on the snow to relinquish my head, I felt someone tug on my legs again. I thought Tails gotten back up and was ready for Round 2, but I knew it wasn't Tails when I flew into the air for two seconds. I went about 2 feet above the snow. As I descended, I felt someone grab my arms, holding me in a secure grip.

"What the…" I asked, completely confused as to what just happened. "Who are you?"

I was looking at a snow hat. But as the head of my opponent rose upward, I could remember the guy all at once. He was one of Fang's friends, the tough guy of his group. He hadn't usually said much until he lost to me and Knux a couple years ago. He now kept speaking of revenge. I had never seen him since then. Right then, when he was holding me… he was quite intimidating.

He was a polar bear, dressed in a scarf, snow hat, and big, puffy gloves. It seemed like… the bear from my dream. Only this time, I got a clear look at his face… and his golden eyes. His brow looked menacing as he stared into my soul, brandishing a little smile on his face.

"Bark, bark, sonny boy…" He said to me.

_Fang told him about Uncle Chuck, too?_, I thought to myself.

He threw me over and behind his head, into the icy wall. As I hit it, I felt it push me back out. I hit the snow, feeling the rumbles of the mountain from the wall's impact.

"…you'll never get my favorite toy." He finished, showcasing his silver Chaos Emerald. I looked up at him, literally in awe as to how he fought me. Back then, he fought with his mere fists. Now, he was using the power of the Emerald.

"How are you using that?" I asked him.

He straightened his smile.

"Space." He replied.

Snarky jerk, this guy.

"It's been a while, Bark." I told him, also calling him out.

"Yes, it has. Too bad our good friend Knuckles isn't here to join us."

"He didn't want to hand your butt to you again. He thought that no one should have seconds."

"All of your jokes still pertain to food, I see."

"Not all of them."

"Name one that doesn't deal with a chili dog."

"How about this one?"

I swung my arm from my left shoulder, spitting out the Chaos Spears. I thought I got him good, but he was somehow a bit faster than before. He instantly used the Emerald's power to raise a wall of ice to deflect the spears… back at me!

I jumped backwards as the spears flew by me. As I reestablished my stance, the ice wall began to lower itself. Bark hopped over it. He had gotten more agile since we had last met.

"This is it for you. I can tell."

All I could say to him:

"Homina, homina, homina."

* * *

><p><strong>That was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Okay, guys. I'm so sorry for the long wait. I promise you: I'm devoting this weekend to writing Chapter IXX (that's how you write 19 in Roman numerals, right?). Trust me; you'll find it there tomorrow night. I'm really sorry for not putting anything up. I got absorbed by schoolwork. Don't blame me; blame my school for assigning so many projects in the spring (No, really. I like it here.).<strong>

**When I asked for reviews and requests on the story, I noticed that no one mentioned the Ice Caps from SA1 or Bark the Polar Bear. I felt that putting them together was a good idea. Tell what you think should happen in the battle. Remember: what you request can affect the course of the story. It's all on you.**

**Anyways, I'm excited. You know why? Because we've hit the middle of Act II! Don't worry, the story will be long. It's not gonna end up at 40 chapters like I wanted it to, but it will at least be in the 30's. I hope you guys will stick with me for the second half of Broken Dreams.**

**In regards to the poll, I'm sure a lot of you would like to see the results, but I have a reason for not showing them. First and foremost: this story is not over yet. Opinions can change as the story evolves. Once it's complete, I'll look at the final results of the poll. Secondly, and most importantly, if I show you guys the results, I'm afraid people will work to raise one bar more than the others. By hiding the poll, your opinion remains anonymous and can actually feel like it's your decision, not influenced by others.**

**Remember: Review & Request, and Vote On the Poll! Read ya later!**


	20. Hate It When I'm Right

**Act II/Chapter XIX: Hate It When I'm Right**

If I had known that Bark could somehow use the power of the Chaos Emerald to create ice-related objects to kill me, I'd have stayed back on the futon. However, Tails and I were stuck inside a mountain, and the only way out was through a tiny crevice that was trouble enough for me to get through. With that already being a problem, fighting Bark was really the only way out.

It was strange, fighting him again. The last time I saw him, he was working with Fang to bring down a big political figure (whose name I totally forget). Knuckles and I gathered enough evidence that pointed to Fang and Bark's plan. We had to get to Fang, but Bark blocked the way. He was a tough guy, being a big polar bear and all. But with the help of Knux, we beat him down. By the time we reached Fang's sniper post, he had left. The politician was safe, but only because Fang's cover had been compromised.

But in this fight, there was no Fang, no Knux, and no political figure. It was just me and Bark, with Tails to root for me (his idea of helping in the fight).

Bark took a big left hook towards my head, but I ducked and rolled, extending my legs out to hit Bark's right arm on the way. The Chaos Emerald, which he held in his right hand, was relinquished from his grip. When I stood topside, I reached back to grab it, but was instead hit by an ice rock from my right. As I fell into the snow, I heard Bark snatch the Emerald.

That was troublesome, Bark's new power with the Emerald. I never thought that he could harness such power. Fighting with ice and snow was a neat idea, but not when used against me. I just get annoyed when my own speed is thwarted.

I rolled to my side, as I knew Bark was going to try to stomp my face in. I stood up and got ready to fight, but I felt snow slide up my back. I then felt like I was hovering in the air, when I was really being held up by the snow. It leaned back and threw me forward. Bark's smirk intimidated me as his punch slammed into my face.

Just then, my communicator began to beep.

"Oh, need time to chat?" Bark asked.

I rose up, readying my hand to open the call. I looked straight into Bark's frozen eyes. He kept staring me down, waiting for the right moment to take me by surprise.

"I can dance and talk at the same time." I stated.

"Just the way I like it."

Bark took his first swing, and I instantly ducked down, opening the call. This was actually going to be somewhat difficult.

"Sonic?" The high-pitched voice asked me.

It was Amy. I had a feeling this would happen. Bark sent his booted foot behind him, careening into my face. I fell back in the snow, grunting and moaning as white nearly enclosed my vision. I began coughing, and Amy must've heard it.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

"I'm a little-." I began.

Bark's foot came down on me, but I shot my hands up to block it at the right moment. I began to struggle in keeping the foot away from me.

"-busy right now!" I finished, groaning as I began to lose strength.

Bark drew his foot back, and I thought he was done. However, I felt the snow begin to rumble, and an icy platform rose up under me. My back began to shiver in all sorts of directions. The ice was absolutely freezing, and with good reason.

"Knuckles is…is this a bad time?" Amy asked, and I began to slip on the ice.

"No, I'm just fighting a ferocious polar bear who will crush me with ice."

"Oh, okay."

"Of course this a bad time!"

"What should I do?"

Bark, using the ice as a giant slammer, began to lift me up straight into the ceiling numerous times. I'm surprised my communicator still worked afterwards. The third time it hit the ceiling, I rolled off and face-planted in the snow. I could hear Bark inch closer every second. I lifted my wrist communicator from the snowy darkness.

"Closing the call would be nice." I suggested, with my voice muffled in the snow.

"Be careful." Amy told me.

I felt Bark grasp my shoulders.

"Thanks. I'll get right on that."

Bark picked me up, and I could already tell what he was going to do: a pile-driver. He tried it on Knuckles once before, but I luckily was able to slightly cut Bark's arms before he could do anything to him. Now, I was stuck in his grasp. How I wished there were two of me.

Thankfully, there was Tails.

As Bark began holding me upside-down, I heard Tails shout out from my right.

"Hey, big guy!" he called out.

I could feel Bark's head move to face Tails.

"Oh, a little pipsqueak is with us as well, huh?" he asked.

_It took him that long to figure out he was here?_ I thought.

"Take this!" Tails shouted, brandishing his little red arm cannon.

If you don't remember that, I believe I mentioned it when I was talking about heading to Grand Metropolis. Nevertheless, he had it with him, and he was about to do some damage.

I saw the flash of light shoot from its barrel, blinding both of us. Bark had relinquished his grip o cover his eyes, so I fell back in the snow. Luckily, the shot missed me. Unfortunately, the shot missed Bark as well. The plasma shot careened into the icy walls of the ice mountain's iceberg "lounge", so to speak.

As Tails grumbled at the missing shot, I turned to find bark beginning to regain his vision. Frankly, I could barely make stuff out, too. However, I did notice something odd: Bark had slammed into the cave's ceiling, and Tails had accidentally shot his plasma into the wall (it was a pretty powerful-looking shot!). Those circumstances made me wonder: _Why hasn't the ceiling caved in?_ Then again, I spoke too soon.

As I regained my sight, I could see something falling from the ceiling. As my vision became clearer, I could see its identity very clearly: a stalactite. I yelped as I hopped back a few inches. The icicle nearly hit me in my… lower region… *ahem*.

Bark finally came back, but almost too late. A stalactite nearly stabbed in the back. He yelped out as well. At this point, Tails, Bark, and I were all eyeing the ceiling, watching for the stalactites yet to impale us. I quickly snatched Tails and zoomed to the edge of the room. I felt three spikes fall near me as I traversed the snowy insides of the mountain. I managed to get back to the crevice. However, I forgot one thing (and it'd save us a lot of time, considering it took forever to get through the crevice the first time.

"I'm going after Bark." I told Tails.

"What? No, you're not!" He replied.

"I'm not asking you, lil' bro. We need that Emerald."

"But what happens if you…"

"You see? Now you're doubting us. Such a hypocrite."

"I just don't ant to risk it. After losing my family…"

I held both his shoulders.

"Listen," I began, as the icicles came closer to us, "We're gonna make it out of here; both of us will. But we came here for an Emerald, so I plan to get it. You go get the plane and meet me at the other side of the mountain. Hopefully, there's another way out, wherever Bark's going."

Tails looked down at the snow.

"Come on, lil' bro. We don't have a lot of time."

We really didn't. I looked back to see bark making his way to a small crevice on the other side of the lounge. I had to get to him, but I had to let Tails in on my idea. And he said, with a slightly raspy voice.

"O-Okay."

That brought a smile to both of our faces.

"Hop on through the hole. Meet you on the other side."

"Don't be late!" He shouted to me as he hopped up to the ledge of the crevice.

"Don't be early!" I retorted.

I began my sprint across the lounge, zipping to either side when an icicle came between me and Bark's escape route. By the time I reached Bark's escape hole, he was just finished getting through it. I was about to try and squeeze through, but then I heard Tails yell from across the room,

"Sonic! Take this with you!"

As I looked back, I felt a quick breeze fly by me, and then a sound of something being stuck in the snow. Once I looked back at Bark's crevice, I saw something that seemed… familiar. It was a snowboard… the same one from my vision. I began wondering if Tails, having heard my dream, decided that it was really going to happen. Maybe that was what he was contemplating after I told him about the dream.

I looked back to see tails, but he wasn't there. He had already gone through the exit. I, myself, needed to get my act together. I picked up the board and slid it between my spiked-back and my SatAm backpack. I quickly zipped through Bark's exit, and located a beam of light coming from the top of a long, upward hall. I began to walk up, listening to the icicles crashing behind me like dishes on a tile floor.

Each step I took on the icy stairway ended up cracking it. I remembered coming to this place with Tails. I had crawled on those stalactites before, and I'd gone through this hall before. I felt like this place was coming down as I thought. In fact, it felt like every place was coming down, wherever I went. Grand Metropolis was soon to be contaminated; Metal City was now a more peaceful place; and now the Ice Caps were beginning to fall apart.

I began to wonder if continuing this would do anything. Was I doing this for nothing? What if the Emeralds weren't the key to his success? How would I be able to keep everything from falling apart around me? I felt like I was walking on an already tamed battlefield. I felt like I was walking on this path of… broken dreams.

The path up to the light was actually made of these icy stepping stones. It seemed cool when I looked at it (the whole "ancient civilization" thing struck me when I did), but walking on it to the light began to change my mind. It was pretty darn slippery, and I'd bet you 50 bucks that Bark probably had trouble getting up that, too.

I had reached the end of the stairway, and I could see the light lurking through the hole above me. I hopped up and grabbed the ledge, pulling myself onto the exterior of the mountain. Once I got outside, I checked out my surroundings.

The sun beamed across the sky, enlightening each detail with its glorious embellishing rays. The mountain was glowing yellow from the… wait a minute.

You guys get that? That's exactly how I described the beginning of my vision… and I was back where I was: holding a snowboard, watching Bark slide down the mountain side. I closed my eyes, fed up with my new skill of knowing the future.

I said to myself, "I hate it when I'm right."

* * *

><p>Things pretty much went the way the dream went. I threw my snowboard in front of me, launched myself forward, and landed on it left foot in front. I began my steady and quick descent down the mountainside. I found myself sailing over little natural ramps, surfing on snowy half-pipes, and pulling tricks as I flew off the edges of each.<p>

I began to reach Bark, but then I heard something: a big yell from behind, calling me out. I felt it echo as it began its journey to my ears. _Oh, no!_ I thought, _Tails!_

I checked behind me to see his plane zooming across the mountaintop. I began to wait for the avalanche, and I suddenly began to see the formations of rushing snow. However, two differences occurred: 1) the avalanche was a little slower than in the dream, and 2) I was still moving fast.

It was time to turn this nightmare into a dream.

I began to get closer and closer to Bark. I was only a couple yards from him when he turned around to see me.

"How'd you get here so quickly?" he asked.

I lowered my eyelids.

"You're really asking that question?"

Bark whipped his hips to the left and did a full 360 spin. The snow he kicked up as he turned flew into my face. After dusting my eyes of snow, I could tell that Bark was moving faster. But that's when I noticed something: my board was slowing down!

I looked back at the avalanche. It was still inching down the mountain, but it was gaining momentum. I had to figure out what to do, and fast. I began to inspect my board, trying to see what was actually slowing it down (I had time).

I noticed that, near the underside of the front, little bumps would form just before I passed by a certain area. I figured that the snow couldn't control itself… but Bark could! He was using the Emerald's power to slow me down. While the dream didn't exactly point to the Chaos Emerald as a significant part of it, I was sure that my slowing down was caused by it. I looked back to see the avalanche getting closer.

I was about halfway down the mountain now. Tails was hovering over the rushing snow, which had just passed the first quarter from the mountain's peak. Bark was a couple yards away from me. I had to do something to get that Emerald, or else I'd be stuck as an iceman.

I then remembered my LSD modules. What a perfect opportunity! I noticed how much the board had been slowed (it felt like I was going 15 mph down that steep slope). I decided to try to get as close as I could to Bark before the avalanche could get to me. I hopped in the air, generated a speed current inside of my body, transferred the energy into my LSD modules, and I zipped off towards… and maybe a little further than I expected.

I zoomed to about an inch or two in front of Bark. Once I stopped, I felt that split second when you're in the air and you're just hovering. It was an amazing feeling… and one that had to be disturbed by landing on top of the polar bear escapee. I slammed my back into his head, and he yelped in pain. I don't think the spines on my back hurt; my weight was probably the culprit.

As I flipped backwards, I found myself facing the end of his snowboard and the rushing snow from behind it. I had to act fast. I stretched my arms out and latched onto the board as it went off a huge ramp. I felt this sort of nostalgia for Metal City once that happened. The only difference: I didn't get a foot to the face once we got up.

Hanging by my right hand, I began to wonder how far up we were. Bark was busy regaining his balance from his face-stomp, so I took those 5 seconds to analyze the situation once again.

The rushing wall of snow had consumed my board by this point, and Tails was inching a little behind its forefront. Bark and I were about half a mile from it (it was a pretty big mountain on the other side). The next thing I knew, Bark was holding the Emerald again. Now was my chance.

I stretched my arm out to grab it, but Bark kicked the board away from him. Luckily, with my last bit of sense, I released my grip on the board and stayed at a good distance with Bark. He was going to kill me. I could tell. His ice-like eyes, his gritted teeth, and his clenched fists were tell-tale signs that he would.

He quickly swung his arms out at me, and I tried to counter. His arms were too powerful, and I ended up getting choked. I tried to break away his grasp, but every time I tried to, he'd just clench it harder. I could barely breathe for a few seconds, but then I remembered one upgrade I hadn't used since Grand Metropolis.

I generated a spinning energy current, which would help create a Spindash. But, this time, I had the Flame Ring. The ring sent out the flame chemical, mixed with my energy current, which then began my fiery state. Bark, having not seen the Flame Ring before this, was somewhat… astonished, you could say.

I began to spin, and, let me tell you, Bark was flipping out… no pun intended. He did not see any of this coming. Once the fiery Spindash stopped, I could tell Bark was nearly out of it. But that's when we both met our new friend: the ground.

We unwillingly rolled in the snow for a few feet before finally stopping. I picked my head up and spotted the silver Emerald lying next to Bark. I crawled over quickly, stumbling over each sore limb, before actually laying my hand on it. As I pulled it away, with bark unaware of anything around him, I heard Tails shouting at me.

"Sonic! Jump to me!"

I looked to my right to find the snow wall rushing ever so closely to me and bark I had about 30 seconds before I was finished. Tails was flying over near the avalanche's left; I was standing up at its right. I t was time to juice.

But as soon as I wanted to begin running, I figured I'd do something I never thought I'd like to do. I didn't like Bark. This whole experience proved to me that he was actually pretty powerful. While I knew we wouldn't trust each other (at first), I thought we should at least gain a new ally from this.

I picked up Bark, slinging his left arm over my shoulders, and I began to quickly walk over to the side of the mountain Tails was flying near. As I trekked through the snow, I could feel Bark beginning to come to his senses. The Tornado-III got closer.

"What… what the… what's going on?" Bark mumbled.

"Bark," I instructed him, "Hold on to something!"

"Hold on to wh-?"

I jumped off the mountainside, with Bark's weight weighing me down. I could see things all happening at once… and the outcome of it all… kinda saw it coming.

The Tornado swooped down below us. Bark was growling, big growling, blinked once and stared at me with evil eyes (He became focused again). Bark began to struggle, and he eventually pushed himself away from me. Falling away from me, I reached my hand out, so far out, and I snatched his right arm with my right hand. But he swung his left arm into my arm, and I witnessed a great amount of pain coursing through my nerves.

I had to let go of his arm, and he kept his distance. He kept falling, faster than I was (he did weigh more than me, of course). Suddenly, I felt my legs get tugged into a plane seat. I looked forward and saw Tails. But when I looked back down, I could hardly see Bark as he fell into the foggy abyss.

I shouted out to him, but there was nothing I could do. I heard the thud from below the fog. I closed my eyes, and felt a tear come up.

That was two people from my past, now dead. You know what? Right when I heard that thud, I heard someone. I heard a faint voice that sounded like… me.

"…at the point where death seems plausible…"

Then I heard Tails.

"…plausible?"

"…I'm still here."

Death was no longer plausible. Death was sailing door to door, and was coming all the way down to me.

* * *

><p>"Sonic? Is that what I think it is?"<p>

I opened my eyes. I had been resting my nerves for a good 5 minutes when Tails decided to shake me awake.

"Sonic. Look."

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. After scratching my ear, I suddenly stopped. My eyes were fixated on something that I hadn't seen for a long time.

Ro-butt-nik always had a trick up his sleeve. He always called his new inventions his "greatest masterpiece". He started doing this with the making of this one fortress. Whether I had to go through its Sky Deck or not didn't matter; to go near it after it exploded twice was unreal. I couldn't believe he'd made a third.

I was looking Egg Carrier, the biggest ship Robotnik had ever made in his lifetime (that stayed within Mobius's atmosphere, at least).

* * *

><p><strong>This feels like a long chapter… just what I needed, actually! Once again, I suck at putting things up. In fact, I'm not even going to put any promises on the board, because I'll probably break it anyway.<strong>

**The story is taking an interesting turn: we've finally met up with one of Robotnik's past bases. Has Sonic finally crossed paths with the doctor? Or is this simply a fluke to keep him busy? The next chapter will contain great amounts of awesomeness, which will feature planes, robots, and awesome fights (as usual).**

**This chapter was the foray back into action. I think I spent so much time writing those chapters in Tails's workshop that I lost some details on my fights. I really enjoyed this one, and I had been imagining this one since I began the Review & Request stuff.**

**Trust me; the end of Act II will be next week. I'm not going to rush, but I am gonna promise the end of this story before June 3rd, because that's when summer vacation begins, and I won't have access to a school computer to finish it for 3 months. Unless you guys want to wait 3 months for the end, I suggest that we try to wrap this up before long.**

**Anyways, Review, Request, & Vote! Read ya later!**


	21. Flying High

**Act II/Chapter XX: Flying High**

We had barely gotten out of the Ice Caps when we had seen the Egg Carrier. I was still giving the cold shoulder in regards to the avalanche, but I noticed that the icy terrain was ending. Beyond that was a big forest, which meant we were leaving the left side of the island, moving to the center.

"Why is he here?" Tails asked.

"Whatever it is," I answered, "we have to get up there and stop him."

"How?"

I couldn't believe he actually asked that.

"We're in a plane!"

Tails looked down at the throttle.

"Opps."

He pushed down on the throttle, sending the plane towards the rear of the aircraft. As we flew closer, I could see all the striking details of the ship itself: the enlarged wings, the pointed front, the blue boosters, and even Robotnik's "face" emblem on the side. Yep. Didn't look any different than the last time I saw it.

"How are we gonna get in?" I asked Tails.

"You have a point." He replied. "I don't see any other way we can get in without being-."

BOOM! Bullets started being fired at us.

"-SEEN!" Tails finished, now swerving the plane in any direction possible.

I slipped from the wings once again, but, luckily, I caught onto the fin on the back of the aero plane. As Tails piloted the plane in a new direction every 5 seconds, I noticed that the bullets weren't coming from the Egg Carrier itself… they were coming from Buzz-Bombers, one of Robotnik's most simple badniks. Think of it as a giant robot hornet that shots lasers from its stinger. It's actually pretty deadly if you saw one in person. I have… and it usually never ended well.

"I just fixed this plane two days ago!" Tails complained.

"And it just got waxed, too!" I joked.

"Sonic, this isn't the time!"

BOOM! The windshield in front of tails had broken, sending glass back at me (Tails had ducked just in time). The see-through surfaces soared through the air, momentarily slicing parts of my arms as I hung on the back of the plane. I nearly lost my grip because of the glass shards.

"Sonic? You okay?"

"I'll be good. Just need to lie down for a moment."

"We don't have a moment!"

Just then, a Buzz-Bomber buzzed its way down towards the plane. As I looked at Tails's flying masterpiece, it occurred to me that we could lose these awesome parts for real this time. In Grand Metropolis, there were at least replacement parts. There weren't any engineering shops in the forest as far as I could tell. I decided that the only way to keep the Tornado-III going was to turn the tide of this air battle.

Buzz-Bombers have these antennas atop their heads. Robotnik uses them to transmit his commands. However, he once spilled the beans on a second method to controlling them. If you could gain a hold on the antennas, you could control where it went and what it did. Someone who didn't know how to fly anything could at least fly a Buzz-Bomber. So, naturally…

I gained some footing on the plane in order to have a good amount of momentum to even grab the little bugger. Tails saw me out of the corner of his eye.

"What are you doing?" he asked, with a piece of fear stuck in his throat.

I gulped as the mech-bee flew closer to me. Just as it got only a few feet from me, I replied,

"Learning how to fly."

I jumped off the plane and snatched one of the antennas. The moment I pulled down with my weight, the bee decided to fly straight up (weird piloting controls). I pulled myself onto it as you would a horse. I grabbed hold of the other antenna and pulled up (to head back down).

As I inspected the bee, I noticed that this one had no firepower on it. That detail made me feel like I took this bee over for nothing… but I had remembered Shadow's ring.

"Let's see what we can do." I said with a smirk.

I pulled forward and leveled myself with the horizon. I saw the bees swarming around the left side of the carrier, trying to take down the Tornado-III. But they didn't realize that a) tails is an expert pilot, and b) we had the epic boosters on the back. Tails was able to elude things like never before. I saw him doing barrel roll in 2 seconds. That took mad skill.

I shot out my first set of Chaos Spears. The bees took a big hit from the first one. One bee's explosive end would knock another one into another, causing two explosions. Those explosions led to more explosions. A good third of the bees were taken out from that first swing of my arm.

I noticed, after the big flashes of the explosions, that there were no more bees in the area. I turned on my wrist communicator on my right, flying the bee itself with the other.

"Tails? You hangin' in there?" I shouted into the communicator (you can imagine how windy it was up there).

"More or less." He responded. "The plane hasn't taken any major damage, so I think I'm in good shape for now."

"Any bees on your end?"

"Not at the moment. You?"

"None for me." I told him, turning around to check. "Where did they… oh boy."

The bees had snuck up right behind me!

"Tails, help! Tango! Bravo! Seven-Niner! Whatever gets me support in the air!"

I began my treacherous path throughout the sky, hoping the bees would lose my trail. The bee was getting harder and harder to control (Robotnik must've known that it was being manipulated by an outside force). I kept looking back to make sure the bees didn't gain up on me too much (they were pretty close… but not close enough). And I might just be crazy, but I think the number of bees chasing me kept getting bigger and bigger every barrel roll from bullets I tried.

The head of the bee got shot off, which meant I couldn't fly myself anymore. In fact, it was pretty much a shuttle to hell, if you think about it (not that I thought I was going to hell). Sadly, I was flying downward when the bullet collided, so now I was really headed to hell. I may have screamed in a… rather high-pitched voice… *ahem*. Nevertheless, I feared for my life. The bees were even following me down to the ground. They were like kamikazes.

But, at the last second, lighting-quick light freaking made a blitzkrieg through the platoon. As I checked the left of the initiating explosion, I saw the light dim, and it turned out that tails flew straight through the battalion of old-school Badniks.

"That was for Narnia!" he shouted to the bees, which were now in smithereens.

He had flown under my now-useless bee, and I hopped into the back seat.

"Good flying, lil' bro!" I said to him.

"I guess he knows we're here." He stated.

"How'll we get in now?"

Tails turned to me and said with his little smirk,

"I have one idea."

* * *

><p>"You sure this will work?" I shouted to him, hanging from the side of the left wing on the Tornado-III.<p>

"You'll be fine." Tails assured. "Your head may hurt afterwards, but that's what your Spindash is for, right?"

I gulped. This wasn't going to end well… or at least I thought it wasn't.

Tails began to do a barrel roll, but instead of stopping after the first one, he kept barrel rolling to the right. We were parallel with the Egg Carrier's left side when we started, and Tails was still able to keep heading straight while barreling in the air.

I don't know about you, but my arms were about ready to pop off when he kept going. I remember catching sight of Tails's face, and… believe it or not… he wasn't scared a bit. This 14 year-old fox, from what I could tell, had definitely done this before! What did I miss?

"Here you go!" he shouted. "Let go… now!"

I released my grip. I was headed in an arc at the left side of the Egg Carrier. As I zoomed towards the exterior, soon to be the interior, I generated the revolving speed current in me once again, creating the Spindash. I recall gritting my teeth as the wall met with my kinetic ball of doom.

Once I hit the wall, I completely fell unconscious… for a minute or so. As I came to, I saw these odd, half-circle shapes hovering in the air. But, as my vision cleared, I could tell what they were: those Badniks with no heads. They were all "staring" at me. Their weapons weren't out; they weren't declaring war on my insides; they were simply standing there looking at me.

I looked back, and found that I had slammed right into a couple of mechs. They were all smashed up from the impact. Looking forward, I saw that I had made two holes in the ship: one entering from the outside air into a hallway, and the other from the hallway into a small, slightly shiny room. Even as I assessed my situation, the mechs just kept eyeing me down. I felt like I was in the wild-west, and we were just waiting to see who'd draw first.

Instead of drawing, I greeted them with,

"Fellas?"

I can sum up the whole situation after in four sentences: 3 seconds. One bullet shot. I escaped through the hole. They didn't.

I quickly called up Tails to inform him of my progress.

"Sonic, you make it in?" he asked.

"What does it look like?" I replied rhetorically. "I made two freaking holes in the ship already!"

"Where are you now?"

"Well, I just got out of a room full of Badniks… which blew up, ironically. I'm in some sort of hallway now."

"Where are the holes?"

I checked my progress down the hallway.

"If I was facing towards the outside, it'd be to my right."

"Perfect. I'll help you determine which way to go… or at least what seems like the best way to go."

"You think the doc has an Emerald?"

"Maybe, but we can't just lobby around if he does. Let's get moving."

I chuckled.

"You don't have to tell me that one twice."

* * *

><p>As I ventured through the front of the ship, I came across a ventilation room. It had a metal walkway, consisting of platforms with narrow holes in them. Railings lined the path every way it went. I could see the ventilation machines, puffing out steam every few seconds. I could tell that my entrance did a little to the ship's systems.<p>

Those subtle changes were placing the odds in my favor. If the doc focused on getting his ship repaired, I'd have a better chance of surprising him and beating him once and for all… at least, that's what I thought.

As I continued down the walkway, I could hear the sounds of bots shuffling in the lower deck. Tails had informed me that the ventilation room was on the deck closest to the exterior of the Egg Carrier. From what I could tell, I was at a good place.

However, as I neared the middle of this walkway, I heard the sounds of Badniks coming my way. I could see their shadows bouncing as they ventured down the corridor towards me. I turned around to head back, but another group of badniks had just arrived at that end. When I looked back at the corridor, I saw the Badniks blocking it.

I was stuck… for real this time. I may not have mentioned this, but there was this massive fan below the walkway. It helped blow air upwards towards the vents. I figured that, at the moment, me going down there would simply rip me to shreds. That wasn't really my idea of living… considering you'd have died at the end anyway.

The bots began walking towards me, readying their weapons. They weren't shooting me, but they were cautious about me (Maybe my fight at Angel Island taught them to be smart for once). One of them said to me,

"Stand down, prisoner. If you decide to attack us, you will be annihilated. Any movement will be counted as hostile."

_Every movement, eh?_ I thought to myself. I simply shot my eyes to my left to see the fan swirling below. I looked to my right to see a wall of ventilation machinery… some of it climbable. I looked back at the bots in front of me. I narrowed my eyelids.

Then, like a ninja on crack, I zoomed off the walkway, over the railing, and onto the vent machines. Looking back, I saw that the first two bots in front of or behind me had destroyed each other. The miracles of speed, right? Sadly, the last four didn't do the same trick. They looked over at my position. And I honestly thought I was dead. However, I had an idea… one that involved much agility.

Having been angled parallel with the walkway, I hopped off the machinery. I flipped my feet to be in front of me. I watched the bots shoot at the machinery, but I wasn't finished (there was a fan I had to fear). Waiting for the precise moment with the right angle, I generated a speed current that shot down into my Homing Modules.

Once I shot off, you may think I hit the bot, but I didn't "hit" the bot. Let me explain: what I meant by "waiting for the right angle" was that I wanted to line up one bot with the railing of the walkway. Why? Well, you'll see why in a moment.

My feet slammed into the railing. I must've generated such a great current of speed that the force that receded from my feet shoke the whole bar. The vibrations, being so sudden and freaky, sent the walkway into hysterics, so to speak. The railing broke, the walkway began to crumble bit by bit, and the bots found themselves falling down into the fan.

Why couldn't I hit the railing without aiming for a bot, you may ask? Well, my Homing Modules only pick up on enemy signatures. I had to use my Light Speed Dash for things further away from me. That's the explanation for you.

I flew back onto the machinery, and I grasped each little tube, wire, or gauge box I could to stay on. Tails beeped me on my communicator, so I picked up.

"Sonic? Why do I see a bunch of robot debris coming out of the ship?"

"I just did a little house-cleaning." I joked. "I ended up getting rid of the floor in here, but it was obviously worth it."

"What are you doing now?"

"Clinging to machinery for dear life."

"Sounds like me."

"Yeah, except your machinery has guns."

"Well, they are only the finest proton-harnessing-."

"This ain't the time for bragging, Tails. We need to get to Ro-butt-nik."

Just then, I heard the doc's maniacal voice from around the room.

"You won't need to!"

I heard the fan begin to move quicker, and the air shot up faster. It was too strong for me to keep my hold on the vent stuff (I'm tired of saying "machinery"). It pulled me up towards the ceiling. But as I was lifted up to be squished between a rock and hard place, I began to think about this deck: it was the closest to the exterior. That gave me an idea.

I created a spinning kinetic current to create the Spindash once again. Furthermore, I unleashed the power of the Flame Ring, ready to leave a blaze where I left. I shot straight up at the ceiling, the air only giving me more momentum. I slammed into it, forcing my way through to the outside. I felt the breeze pass by, but the flames still rocked on. As I turned around to land near my exit, I felt an explosion from within the border of the decks. I must've passed through more vent stuff. The flames only grew larger.

When I landed, I saw that I was still at the front of the ship. I was looking down the exterior, looking at its details. The surface had a metallic stair way, if you will. They were big steps though (at least a 25 yards in length), and there were 5 of them. The first four had increasing opposing forces as you progressed to the 5th, which had this sort of circular, green, rotating thing (presumably the engine). Behind that was a small tower, which did rival that of the engine. I liked these odds: provided a small challenge as you went… kind of like how this story has gone so far.

I then heard Robotnik chuckling to himself.

"You had better hope you don't reach the engine, hedgehog." He snarled at me through the speakers in the room below.

I laid out my trademark smirk once again.

"You'd better hope I don't get there before you, Doc."

There was silence.

I continued, "… even though that'd be highly unlikely."

* * *

><p><strong>I feel like I called him "Doc" or "the doc" a lot in this chapter. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed Chap. XX. It actually pleased me. We're getting to an action sequence that I've been imagining since I was 12. You'll know it when it's written (it will be the more highly descriptive one of the many sequences in my head).<strong>

**We're getting there, guys. I have to leave school for summer on June 2nd, 2012, so I'm devoting this weekend to Broken Dreams writing. I'll have the story done (hopefully) by the end of Saturday, June 1st, 2012. Let's hope for a good finish.**

**By the way, when we hit Act III, I'll inform you guys of the results of the poll. Once revealed, I will do whatever changes may be necessary to this first title, depending on the results. Act III will have started by this Sunday. Trust me, this weekend is free for writing, so it's a good time to get down to business and finish this thing (I'm not rushing it!).**

**Another thing: we've entered the part of the story where I can't really get requests for stages. Characters maybe, but not stages. Send in requests for characters in the reviews or the PM box. Also, don't forget to vote on the poll. Your input can help bring what the viewers would like to see.**

**Anyways, Review, Request, & Vote! Read ya later!**


	22. Haulin' & Fallin'

**Act II/Chapter XXI: Haulin' & Fallin'**

There were turrets lining either side of the Carrier. Each one looked like a cannon ball could shoot out of it. However, these ones shot explosive… explosives at you, if that makes sense. It did? Okay, cool. Aside from that, there was really only one flaw with it, which made me a bit disappointed in the doc's work… it wasn't fast enough to hit me.

_Tsk, tsk, tsk, _I thought to myself.

I began running down that first step (I explained the whole step thing to you before). Honestly, it seemed to take a while at first, but that was because I was on a new model of the same ship I helped take down before (a water guy gave the finishing blow). While the length was intimidating, it wasn't enough to make me want to turn back, not in the slightest.

The shots came in 0.5 second pacings, each almost mimicking the rhythm of a song. I could feel them rush by my head, feel each blast as I ran down the first platform. I was exhilarated… and I liked it.

As I hopped up onto the second platform, my communicator beeped. The sudden distraction must've caught me off-guard, 'cause I was sent to my right by one of the shots. The problem was that they kept firing, even though their target was hit. As I hit the metal plating of the ship, I pressed my hands off of the surface, launching me up into the air. While my communicator beeped again, another blast occurred under me, so I went flying even higher. I zoomed up about 9 feet before reaching the peak of my propulsion.

I swung myself around and spotted two turrets on each side of me, firing a shot at the same time. I felt nearly outnumbered, trying to speed up my descent (I was still hanging at the peak for some reason), all while my communicator beeped again.

I finally pressed the button to open the call, and I placed my wrist on my left shoulder. The blasts fortunately, with me descending underneath, flew over my head. I didn't care where they hit; I only cared that I was safe. Once the call opened, I shouted,

"WHAT?"

I swung my arm and released Chaos Spears upon the four turrets. At this moment, I realized just how much lock-on Shadow's ring had. Whatever targets I wanted down, the Chaos spears would take 'em out. Simple as that, I suppose.

As I landed, I could hear Tails's trademark phrase: silence… with a dab of awkward.

"What happened?" he said subtly.

"Aren't you watching this?" I asked, assuming he was flying over the carrier.

"Sonic, if I were hanging near the sides or above the Egg Carrier, I'd be in the danger zone. From all the turret fire I hear, I know that heading below might've been a better choice."

"Why 'might've'?" I asked, just now realizing that turrets were still shooting at me. I sped off to the side and continued to finish the second platform.

"I see all of these little pods shooting out of the Carrier… headed into the forest."

"What do the pods look like?"

"I can't really tell, but they're big. That's for sure."

"That's all that matters in terms of description. Try an' fly low to see what Robotnik's doing down there."

"Sounds like a plan. Where are you headed?"

"I'm on the exterior of the ship." I told him, as I ran past the middle of the third platform. "I plan to get to the engine before Ro-butt-nik does."

"Why? What's Robotnik doing at the engine?"

"He didn't say, but it can't be anything good."

"What gave you that idea?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, the turrets out to get me gave me a hint. I'll admit that."

"Good hunt-."

The call cut out after that… but only because another blast hit by me and tore my watch off. Great. Now I had no idea what Tails had found. Just my luck, I suppose. These past three days made this Thursday the worst. Out of all the "infiltrate a base with lots of bad luck" days, this was by far the worst… and I say that literally (I even have a "hungry" day… Knuckles said it was an excuse to eat lots of food).

I quickly flipped back, narrowly missing the next blast. I zoomed off toward the fourth platform, hopping from the third one to the next. With no watch, I had no way of knowing how I'd get out of here. What if Tails wasn't there afterwards? What if he couldn't get to me in time? My god, how these questions bugged me down the fourth path.

Just as I was hopping to the fifth, one of the turrets became the smarter one and shot in front of me instead of behind (like the other 69… that's with some generous estimation). The blast was so strong that it punctured the ship's surface, sending me back down into its interior. I recall falling through and slamming my head into a wall. I fell a several more feet before even touching the ground. Man, I had a lot of bad luck!

* * *

><p>After groaning for a few seconds, I realized that Robotnik could beat me to the engine if I didn't get up for 3 hours. I rose from the floor, using the light gaping in from the outside as a window of my surroundings.<p>

It was pretty dark except for a light peering out at the corner of a hallway. I could tell it was a room because my arms didn't feel any walls close by. I began to sneak over to the lighted passage, and I checked my back every few seconds to see if this was a trap. I peeked around the corner of the hall to find a well-lit side room. It had a computer at the far wall. I quickly snuck over to it and accessed it. Of course, I needed a password.

That's when I began speaking to myself.

"Umm, let's see. What could his password be?"

I pondered this for a few moments.

"Hm… how about… bacon cheese burrito?"

I punched it in, but it didn't work.

"Um, sausage?"

That didn't work either.

"Egg?"

ANH! Wrong!

"Worth a shot. What else would there be?"

Just then I heard this from behind me,

"How about 'password'?"

I yelped at the squeaky and technologic sound of the voice. It scared the living crap out of me, no doubt. I turned to see a… small robot chao? What was this before me… and why did I get scared because of it?

"What are you supposed to be?" I asked, trying to calm myself down.

"I'm Omochao," it said to me in an intellectual tone, "and it is my duty to serve the doctor as he sees fit. You have not forsaken my role, have you, doctor?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'doctor'?"

"I am the doctor's special A.I. program, installed into this cybernetic body resembling one of many chao, a species on Mobius known for cute, adorable, and creepily attractive."

That last one made my eye twitch.

"But I'm not the doctor."

"My second generation tech substantiates my claim as to you being the doctor. Therefore, I am and always will be correct."

Something clicked in my head. Second generation tech? My wrist watch was third generation tech. Robotnik was a year behind everyone in terms of tech updates. This meant that he had this Omochao thing since he began his fight against us. Omochao, because of its old hardware, now recognized everyone as the doctor!

"Okay then, Omochao." I said. "You said the password was… 'password'?"

"Precisely."

I turned to the computer and began typing it in. But then I stopped.

"What kind of idiot makes his password 'password'?"

"Well, you, sir."

Omochao, while it stuck with the whole "scholar" approach, had its own way of insulting people. He just didn't know it.

"What is on this computer?" I asked it.

"This database includes records on past losses, blueprints for plans, active plans, and even victories… there are very few of those."

"I bet. How do I open 'active plans' from here?"

"You just click… or is it too much effort for you, doctor? I could push it for you as usual."

This thing was giving me so much material for jokes on the doc for later. While it was annoying, it certainly had its perks.

"I think I'll be fine." I assured it.

I moved over to the icon for the 'active plans', and a small handful of documents spat out on the desktop."

"How many plans are still in blueprints?" I asked.

"About 75."

"Can't wait for those ones, I'll tell ya that much.

"I don't understand, doctor."

"Don't need to. Just wait for any more questions."

"Yes, doctor."

I opened up one document, and saw… plans for Uncle Chuck's death? That certainly didn't fit in here. Uncle Chuck was already dead. Therefore, this plan has been completed. Why was it stuck in the 'active plans' folder? I was going to ask Omochao about it, but I felt the Egg Carrier shake about.

"Where is your Power-Mech suit, doctor?" Omochao asked me.

"Power-Mech suit? What is that?"

"You've been working on it for the past three months now. I'm surprised you don't remember."

"Wait a minute. You don't know where it is either?"

"Unfortunately, I do not. I'm sorry, doctor; I cannot be of assistance."

I began thinking about Robotnik and what he had said: "…better hope you don't reach the engine, hedgehog." Now, with Omochao's little slip-up, I had an idea of where to look for this suit.

"Omochao?" I asked it.

"Yes, doctor?"

"Can you lead me to the engine, please?"

"Certainly. Right this way, doctor." He answered, turning on these flashlights stored in his head. He flew around the corner of the side room and out to the big room. I began to follow him.

Remember what I said about having lots of bad luck? Yeah, this was an exception.

* * *

><p>Ironically, I didn't ask him about Uncle Chuck and the 'active plans' while we walked to the engine. I did, however, urge him to take the quickest routes possible to get there quickly. He kept asking me about my urgency and why I want to get somewhere quickly, but I guess that's what you should ask when your master eats a Subway sandwich for breakfast.<p>

At last, he opened a hatch and light peered through. After climbing up through the hatch, I found myself hit by a breeze once more. We had made it outside. As the sun released its grip of light on my eyes, I noticed where Omochao and I were standing: on top of the tower at the back of the Egg Carrier.

"Didn't expect to find ourselves here." I commented.

In front of the lower tower stood a green cylinder, big in width and moderate in size (I'm speaking from a giant's perspective on it). I could see more detail in it now: there were mechanical operations taking place within its green glass walls. Mechanical arms were spinning; electric pumps were pulsing; big lights were flashing (all of which was protected by the green glass, bordered with yellow metal plates). There was like a red carpet premiere down there.

"By gaining transportation down to the lower levels, you will arrive at the engine. However, I strongly recommend you obtain your motorized air vehicle before choosing to-."

It stopped talking, but only because I had leapt off the tower, headed straight for the engine. I didn't want to break the glass, so I made sure, using my power of speed, that I could slow myself if need be. I landed on the glass, rolling a little after the impact. I heard Omochao "yelling" at me as he flew down to my position.

"Since when have you been so athletic?" it asked.

"The day I threw out my breakfast." I replied.

"When did you throw out even one of those homemade Subway sandwiches?"

I loved how he just kept handing me bit after bit of material. This robot was my favorite Badnik of all time (at least I think it was a Badnik). However, this enjoyment was short-lived.

I looked up to see a big silhouette standing atop the tower. The sun was shining behind its mechanical features. Suddenly, it hopped off the tower, and I could hear boosters from behind it. Unfortunately, being the idiot that I am, it didn't occur to me that that thing could've killed me. Thankfully, it didn't. I still got sent off from the engine's place.

I fell back onto the fourth platform. I looked at the engine, and the glass had crumbled from the figure's impact. I was almost sad; Omochao wasn't with me anymore. In the 15 minutes I knew him, I had grown somewhat attached to him, believe it or not. The individual, although it made heavy contact with the glass, somehow used its boosters to barely touch the engine. It hovered over to the fourth platform. And when it landed, I almost couldn't believe I was seeing him face-to-face once more.

He was in his Power-Mech suit, alright. It was white, with grand shoulder pads and a clear visor. It seemed like an average Robotnik death machine.

"I told you to hope not to reach the engine." The doc said to me.

I stood up, feeling a pain in my head (how many times did I fall that day? 8, I think?).

"But I did." I replied. "And it looks like your hope ran out too."

"You getting here first actually doesn't affect anything that's about to happen."

"Sure… unless you've already realized that I've raided your ship for your Subway sandwiches!"

"So Omochao talk to you. Should have known."

It felt creepy that he knew that Omochao and I had spoken.

"Where is he?" I asked him.

"While he may be an A.I., you'll find out where he is soon enough."

I knew he'd take a swing at me.

* * *

><p>I flew back into a turret. The force of his blow gave me enough of an impact to break the turret off its hinges. I felt it fall off the ship and into the air as I rolled over its last location. I spun myself across the ground, knowing that Robotnik was readying his gun for hyper-bullet frenzy. I stood up and zoomed towards Robotnik's suit. I latched onto its legs, and he kicked around like he was good at dancing (which he wasn't).<p>

After getting air-sick (if that's a real term), I finally came to my senses and decided to trick him into defeating himself. When he kicked up, I let go of his leg. I flew high above his head, but he swung his arm at me again. This time, while I took the force of the blow, I still grasped onto it and was taken on a wild ride once more. The arm was much worse than the leg was; the leg moved forwards and back, but the arm went all sorts of directions.

When he swung his arm close to his head, I let go and slammed into his visor. Nearly sliding off, I grabbed the slit where a gap laid between the head and the torso. I could hear him growl as he began to plot his next move.

"You got some neat armor." I shouted over his thrashing movements, readying my arm for my usual cliché line. "It'd be a shame if something happened to it."

"I've got armor, hedgehog." He said, stopping his thrashing. "What do you have?"

"I stared up into his visor.

"Shadow."

I swung my arm and the Chaos Spears pierced the armor like pins through paper. I fell from the torso, hoping it'd be enough to stop him. The sparks from his armor had shocked me, and I felt a surge of pain all of a sudden. However, he had other plans. He held his arm high in the air. His back was facing the tower, his front facing me. I could hear his disgust over the results so far.

"You aren't getting off this ship, hedgehog."

As his arm swung down towards me, I noticed something interesting: a glow coming from his Power-Mech suit's elbow. It was a bright blue glow, and I instantly knew how Robotnik was packing those punches: the Chaos Emeralds. Using my fast speed, I shot my look over to the other arm, which had a purple glow to its elbow. They were both covered with glass to encase them within the arms. If Robotnik actually crushed me with his arm, I'd be a bleeding pancake right now.

The arm swung down to me, but I luckily rolled back before any impact occurred. Sadly, I was still knocked back by the force of his blow against the metal plating of the ship. Now, from what I can tell, the cracking sounds I heard as I fell on the third platform meant only one thing: the ship was collapsing.

I could see that Robotnik's armor, possibly caused by the backlash of the swing's force, was falling apart. The arms fell off first, and the glass that held the Emeralds in the elbows broke open. The Emeralds began rolling down to the opening crevice.

I tried to get up, but I felt my side of the ship begin to tip towards the ground. I tried to cling onto the metal plating, but I didn't have enough time before I fell from the platform. I saw the doc's armor beginning to slide down. That meant I'd run into fifty pounds of specialized battle armor in a few moments.

The armor rolled into the crevice, with its arms slamming into either side of it. Debris began to scramble from the insides, falling down to the forest below. I could see metal plates, fan propellers, and even Badniks rolling from the interior down to me. Luckily, I was able to maneuver myself away fro their force. I was lucky enough to get hit only by one (the fan propeller).

Once a gap came between the debris and me, I began to turn myself around to view my landing options. I could either make it out on a metal board, or simply plant myself in the ground and a hospital for three months. I didn't like either one of those.

Sadly, I had nothing that could act in a way that could save me. I was searching m wrists for anything that might have helped me, but I didn't see anything of use. This was definitely not going to turn in my favor. This, as I recall thinking, sucked!

Of course, there's always that one thing you forget about in these situations, and, for me, that's the Tornado-III. I viewed it below the debris, swerving to miss any object threatening his safe passage. It was a long-shot… but I had to try and stick the landing… on a moving object.

And I was right; this DID suck.

* * *

><p>As I managed to convince myself to send myself towards certain death, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye: the Chaos Emeralds! I was now determined to risk my life to get back. And I began thinking: now I had the green, yellow, red, silver, bright blue, and purple Chaos Emeralds. Now, I needed just one more, and then…<p>

I decided that the only way to get myself to move now was with a barrel roll. I barrel rolled to my right, headed straight for the Emeralds. Debris began to glide past me, simply beating me as I dived down at my targets. As the plates got closer together, I knew I'd be in trouble if I didn't get out of that situation soon. But then, I had an idea. For once on that dive, something was actually of use.

I used my LSD to shoot down the "corridor" formed by the plates. As I zoomed down, I ran into the Emeralds. Once the LSD finished and the plates had slammed together behind me, I popped open my backpack to slip the Emeralds in. However, the LSD gave me enough momentum to slam into another piece of debris without knowing I would. The second I hit it, every Emerald I had flew out of the bag.

I started cursing things you should never curse, but I could barely hear myself (remember my talk about fighting in the wind?). As I watched the Emeralds, they seemed to fall straight into this sort of "hole", with debris acting as an interior wall. When I mapped out what was before me, I thought the only one thing that mattered at the moment: _Agility, don't fail me now!_

I grabbed one of the many "walls" of the chute. As I looked to its right, I saw that the Tornado was heading below the chute itself. Tails must've seen me heading down. Knowing he'd be there, I decided that this was my last shot at getting the Emeralds and making it home in one piece.

I jumped from the wall to the next, and continued this down the hole. As I neared the middle, the Emeralds were within reach. I jumped over and grabbed two of them. Snatching onto the wall, I threw them in the bag. I was careful not to make sudden movements (opening the bag and closing it for every Emerald would've taken me to the grave).

I snatched three more using this method. For the final one, I jumped, but another piece of debris knocked it away. I grabbed that same piece, but the Emerald sailed downward. I kicked the debris from me, sending it down next to my target. I was readying an LSD, but I didn't need to; the debris, after setting off another piece next to it, began to rotate around in circles, the flat part acting as a launch pad. Both pads met and hit the Emerald up to me at the exact same time.

Once I grabbed the Emerald, I could somehow hear the Tornado-III beginning to come under. This was it; this was my final chance to make it out with no casualties. The debris began to turning so that the gap would be horizontal. As I fell, I made myself parallel to its gap. It began to close in, but I had faith that I'd make it through. I felt the Tornado just beginning to pass under the debris. I closed my eyes, and my plan fell into place.

I felt the debris next to me as I fell through. I yelled for Tails, even though I didn't see him, saying,

"Hit the boosters!"

I heard the engines begin to fire up, and I could feel the plane beneath me, just begin to sail by. I opened my eyes to see the debris just barely snipping at my head. I fell onto the back of the plane. Rolling over my back, I could tell that the Tornado was ready to shoot off. At the last second, still holding my Emerald, I latched onto the back fin of the plane, and the thing boosted into the sunset.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get a glass of water, 'cause my voice hurts from talking so much. You think you have it bad? Try reading nearly 500 pages of fan fictions everyday. Tell me how you feel.

* * *

><p><strong>That is actually the longest chapter I've written so far (15 pages in Word)! And, to reward myself for doing so, I decided to have a bit of fun at the end. Sure, it breaks the fourth wall a little, but I found it somewhat amusing. and, to a degree, Sonic is right.<strong>

**Guys, I started writing this right after Chapter XX was uploaded. You know what that means? I've become more dedicated to writing this story now. And since the year is winding down in terms of HW, I'll have more time for this (therefore why I'm dedicating this weekend to writing this book). Sure, exams are coming up for me, but I want to finish this so it won't bother me when I'm trying to figure out what the endodermis does.**

**We're getting closer to the end! However, we still have to punch through Act II. But I'll let you in on something: we close to the end of this act. Don't worry; the poll results will be showcased shortly.**

**Chapter XXII will be presented tomorrow evening. Don't forget to Review, Request, and Vote! Read ya later!**


	23. Something I Said

**Act II/Chapter XXII: Something I Said**

I don't know how I did it, but I somehow slipped into the back seat of the Tornado-III during the boost. It all (ironically) happened so fast that I forgot five seconds of my life. I still can't figure out how I got there. All I know is that I got in head-first, 'cause that's how I got out.

Tails had stopped boosting after about 10 seconds of it. Maybe I flew into my seat after the boost wore off. But anyways, I had gotten up and seated myself in a comfortable posture. I felt like I just experienced death… and somehow kicked it in the jewels and got away. I started laughing when I thought that.

"What's so funny, doctor?" something said near me.

I straightened my back and perked my ears up. Something had called me… and only one thing called me "doctor".

"Who was that?" Tails asked.

"You mean 'what'." I corrected. "And I'm the only who knows it."

"What is it?"

Just then, I felt my feet getting moved around on the flooring in the second seat. When I looked down, I saw two bright lights shining at me. They dimmed, and I knew what was down there.

"Omochao? You're alive?"

"Forgive me, doctor, for my delayed sum-."

I picked him up and placed him on the part between my seat and Tails's. Somehow, he stayed on the plane without getting blown off at all.

"What is this thing?" Tails asked me.

Of course, Omochao beat me to it.

"I am the doctor's special A.I. program, installed into this cybernetic body resembling one of many chao, a species on Mobius known for cute, adorable, and creepily-."

"Okay, Omochao." I interrupted. "We get it. You said the same thing to me. Tails, I met Omochao on the ship. After I lost my wrist communicator, I had no real way of knowing where to go. I met this guy, and it helped me get to that huge climax you flew through earlier."

"Not that I didn't think you'd make it," Tails commented. "but I'm surprised you got out of there in one piece."

"I am too. What I don't know is how Omochao survived."

"It's simple, really." It began. "When the enemy came down upon us, I was stuck in a rigid state and flung off the ship. After regaining control, I realized how long it had been since I last flew a great distance. I didn't have a clear place to go… until I saw this plane."

"Aha." I stated afterwards. "So when you saw the plane, you saw it as a safe zone. You flew into the back, obviously when Tails wasn't looking."

"Who said I wasn't looking at you when you arrived?" Tails asked Omochao.

"The same guy who asked me what this was."

Tails turned back around and resumed flying to the workshop.

"So, Omochao, I never thought about asking you this again until now. Why was my uncle's death in the 'active plans' folder?"

"I do not know."

"What do you mean? Don't you have access to Robotnik's super computer o something?"

"The data you perceived on the computer stayed with the computer. I would still have access to it if the ship hadn't been decimated."

"A four syllable word." Tails commented. "I'm impressed."

Omochao kept looking back and forth at Tails and I.

"Did I offend the pilot, doctor?"

"Nah. He's just a little… jealous, you could say."

Tails swung his head back to us. Omochao was nearly startled.

"What do you mean 'jealous'? Why would I be jealous?"

"Well," I began, "I just thought that you could be mad that Omochao is the one I'm talking to for advice."

"I'm many things, Sonic, but I am not jealous over your friendship with that robot. You could be talking to a brick wall, and I wouldn't care."

Omochao interrupted, "I'm an A.I., actually."

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to see if you were listening."

"If I was listening? Sonic, I've followed you, everywhere you go. You've told me to do things I was scared out of my mind to do. I've heard every single one of your corny jokes in my entire life so far, and those puns keep on coming. I think I've listened to you enough."

I didn't see that coming.

"Thanks… I think."

"You're welcome."

We ended up not talking for the rest of the ride… but Omochao had a different idea.

"What engine does this plane have? I'm surprised we got out of the debris field so quickly. You obviously have great potential as an inventor, creating engines like that."

It was funny, but only because it drove Tails to the brink of insanity… but he wasn't the only one losin' it.

* * *

><p>We finally arrived back in the underground lab. I had apologized to Tails before we landed, and he accepted the apology. I felt like a jerk, accusing him of being jealous and not listening to me. And he even had a good point; I did have corny jokes, and he hadn't heard the last one yet.<p>

We hopped of the plane, Omochao flying around us as we ventured over to the hospital bed where Knuckles lay. I saw Amy sitting in a chair next to him. Her head was laid on the bed sheet, and her eyes were closed blissfully. She slept like an angel.

Tails and I decided it was best to whisper.

"How are his vitals?" I asked Tails.

He walked quietly over to the computer and clicked on a few windows.

"He's looking green.' He answered.

My face, however, was dumbfounded.

"Sorry. He's alive…"

I nodded and looked down at him. He seemed to be at peace for once. It's strange what sleep does to you; it makes you look happy for once in your life.

"…and waking up." Tails finished.

Knuckles began to groan as he woke up, and I could see his eyes fighting to open themselves up to the world. He turned to face Tails and I, as we gathered at the side of his bed.

"Ugh…" he began. "What'd I miss?"

"Not much." I answered.

"Actually, quite a lot." Omochao "corrected".

"What the heck is that thing?" Knuckles asked us.

"I am the doctor's special A.I.-."

"We get it!" Tails yelled at it.

He didn't care much for whispering now.

Amy started to wake up as well. When she lifted her head, she looked up to Knuckles first.

"Oh, you're awake." She said.

"He'll be happy to know, too." Knuckles stated, managing a subtle point in my direction.

Amy turned to see me, sporting that little smirk of mine.

"Sonic!' She shouted, hugging the breath out of me.

"Amy…" Tails said, sending a message that I didn't wanted be hugged right now.

Even though I was in love with her, that doesn't mean we saw eye-to-eye on everything (her greetings specifically). Amy released her wonton grip, and I began to catch my breath.

"Nice to see you, too." I replied, beginning to fix my posture. "How have you been?"

"Just fine. I've been waiting for Knux to get up for some time now. It's just good to know you're back… what is that?"

Omochao was about to speak, but Tails smacked him to the ground. He had had enough of Omochao's voice. Listening to him, talking about quantum physics in the Tornado for a good 45 minutes, must've been a nightmare.

"He's an A.I.," Tails stated. "Specifically for Robotnik."

"Robotnik?" Amy repeated, fear growing in her eyes.

"It's okay, Amy." I assured her. "This thing is on our side. Besides, even if it was working for Robotnik, it couldn't do much, could it?"

Amy stared at the little chao-bot, who was beginning to stand up on the floor. It simply waved a hand.

"I see your point." Amy answered.

"What'll we do with it?" Knuckles asked. "Lock it in a closet? Take him out for a walk? Hell, this thing might as well be our new pet."

"No." Tails disagreed. "I have a better idea for him."

"You know what's funny?" I began. "That pet idea doesn't sound all that bad."

Of course, we didn't get to do it. He would've been a neat pet. However, some destruction of his voice chip may have been required.

* * *

><p>Tails hooked him up to his computer at the second floor. He began to open files that had numbers for names. Every time he scrolled down the list, I hoped that he'd say "Eureka!", or "Found it!", or something that reassured me that he knew what to look for.<p>

"What are you looking for, anyway?" I asked Tails, holding Amy at my side.

"It's difficult… but I know that it's in… aha! Here it is!"

Good timing, I guess.

"What'd you find?"

"The location of Robotnik's headquarters."

"WHAT? THAT EASILY?" I yelled.

Amy didn't seem to like that.

"That's not the enemy's base." Omochao stated.

"Okay then, smart stuff. What the heck am I lookin' at, then?"

"The enemy's second-to-last base."

Tails turned to the screen and back to Omochao.

"Where's his last one?"

"He never said."

"Dang it!"

"Hey, cheer up, Tails." I told him. "At least we have somewhere to look."

"That's another problem." Omochao stated. "While I do know of its look and layout, I have no clue where it actually is."

"So we're still at square one?"

"If that's how you Mobians put it, yes."

Tails and I began to think about this. Why was this a problem? Why the heck weren't we able to get a decent clue as to where Robotnik was? We found something that had a direct link to Ro-butt-nik himself, and we're still left in the dark? I just couldn't accept it.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"I guess I could scan the environment for unusual signatures." Tails suggested.

"Scan the environment? Tails, Robotnik's not gonna be within 50 meters of this place. That's how far your scanner even goes. We won't find him that easily, anyway. He's well-hidden, well-guarded… he's practically invisible."

"It's okay, Sonic." Amy told me. "You'll find him-."

"No, it's not okay! Robotnik's out there, plotting to destroy Mobius, and I'm stuck playing the hero! I never asked for any of this! And here I am, people relying on me to solve the big mystery and save the day once again!"

"Well, I hope you still feel like a hero, because you're the closest thing to Superman on this planet! You have what it takes to find-!"

"How can I find him when he's out of my field of vision? Explain that to me! Furthermore, since when have you decided my fate? The day you choose what I do is the day that I die; it'll all be because of your stupid decisions! You can't even stand up for yourself, let alone stand against someone in a fight! I'm surprised you made it this far without me!"

"Well, you know what? I don't need you!"

"Nor do I need you! Why don't you take your huge hammer and go beat yourself up with it! Better yet, go find Ro-butt-nik yourself! Be the hero, because I certainly never will be!"

Amy seemed speechless. But then I took a hammer to the knee. The pain was enough to knock me on my back, writhing in pain

"Agh! What the heck?"

"I hope you fall in a fire!"

She stormed down the stairs, and I could hear her shedding tears as she ran from the workshop.

I rose up and sat on Tails's bed. My lil' bro was appalled at what just happened. He rose from his seat and sat next to me at the foot of the bed.

"Did you mean that?" Tails asked me.

I let my head down, my eyes closing to shut away my tears (they came out anyway).

"I think I… did."

"Was it necessary to take it out on her?"

"No. I never should have done that."

Silence emerged and crowded around me and Tails. However, Omochao had a different plan of spending time… which turned out to be useful.

"Do you see those lights, sir?" it asked us.

"What lights?" Tails asked, not aware of what Omochao had sighted.

"There are lights flying over the girl. They're attached to a… hovercraft of some sort."

I lifted my head and my eyes popped open. I saw the hovercraft and its lights… shaking around as Amy struggled to get away from its capture wire. She became tangled in the wire, and the hovercraft shot off to the horizon. Before it went away, I saw that it had begun to cloak itself.

"Who was that?" Tails asked.

"Three words: big, fat, and smelly." I responded.

"Only one guy has a hovercraft like that."

"I'm heading out." I said, heading down the stairs wit Tails following after.

"You're gonna try and find them?"

"They may have turned invisible, but I know the general direction. I'm gonna get her back… to make it up to her. I'm not leaving her to die alone."

"Sonic, why are you becoming so attached to lives now? First, you lose Fang, an enemy. Next, you lose Bark, an adversary. I'm not saying that Amy is an enemy, but you seem much more attached to these people, whether you like them or not. Why?"

At that moment, I had snatched my backpack, which had been lifted from the weight of the Chaos Emeralds. Tails had stored them down in the lab, next to Knuckle's bed. I had grabbed my upgrades and had opened the door by the time Tails asked me why. I turned my head slightly back at him, in order to hide my tears.

"I was never there for Sally. I was never there for Uncle Chuck. I owe it to Amy… to be there for her… like I never was for anyone else."

I almost closed the door, but then I had one more thing to say.

"Hope you listened."

I closed the door, and headed out to find and rescue Amy, and to finally put an end to Robotnik's scheme. It was time to redeem myself.

* * *

><p><strong>That was a cool chapter in my opinion. Let me tell you; it was actually kind of hard to create that argument. I had to consider their personalities, what they'd been through, and, most importantly, how it'd lead up to… well, you'll see.<strong>

**Anyways, thanks for all the good reviews, guys! It means a lot to me. It really does. I just talked to my mom last night over the phone. I told about how the story was going and how great the reviews. I even told her about the requests and the poll. She was extremely excited about it. She liked that I was doing something I enjoyed. So, in a way, you guys are making my family life better than before (not that my mom hated me or anything).**

**I want to see if anyone can tell me what will happen next. If you guess correctly, you get a cookie! No, seriously, I'll try to send a box of Fudge Stripes to your mailbox as soon as possible (totally joking, by the way).**

**Alright, so we're nearing the end of Act II. It may seem like I'm rushing, but this is all working in my favor. Trust me; you'll get the best from this story, by all means. I really hope you'll enjoy the end of Act II. Don't forget: Once Act II ends (when that last chapter of Act II is up), I'll present the results of the poll, and no one else will be able to vote.**

**Your final day of voting is tomorrow, the 25th of May. I'll be posting Chapter XXIII that night, at 9:30pm. Get the votes in before then, because once the chapter goes up, I'll close the poll and publish the results afterwards (that's right; Chapter XXIII is the end of Act II. Not really spoilers, if you think about it… you still don't know what happens from that fact, do you?)**

**Anyways, Review, Request, and Vote! Read ya later!**


	24. Full Circle

**Act II/Chapter XXIII: Full Circle**

You know, going out by yourself to search for a damsel in distress who was kidnapped by a mad scientist bent on taking over the world with weapons of mass destruction wasn't exactly a good idea in hindsight. I'll tell you why later.

I was trying to speed through the pathway that I believed to be the right way, but I always met a tree at every corner. I felt like my speed wasn't going to help on this one. I needed to think things through. I had to think about where Robotnik could possibly have taken her.

I looked around for a bit. The problem was that I didn't bring a map, GPS, or anything that would be substantial in leading in a certain direction. I had been out there for thirty minutes, and now I couldn't tell which way was north. I was gonna be stuck here for a long time… or, at least, that's what I thought.

I remember crawling up this one specific hill. I remember weeds overflowing the left side of it, leaving spots on the right. The dirt and grass correlated in changing their whereabouts across its terrain. I got acquainted with this hill… but only because I got shoved headfirst into it.

Someone behind me, probably because of the dark night, presumed I was an enemy. They kicked me to the ground, but I quickly rolled onto my back. However, the oppressor grabbed my left arm and shoved into my right. He had both my arms locked to the ground. He was kneeling on both of my legs, and it hurt… a lot. He lifted his left hand, considering his right one was holding me down, and that open hand let out a green pulsing light. It gave enough light to identify who I was facing… and, honestly, I thought he'd been lost since forever.

"Silver?" I asked, dumbfounded that I'd find him out here.

His eyebrows rose, and his aggressive expression dropped to reach a level of serene tranquility. He actually seemed happy to see me.

"Sonic?" Silver replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I was searching for someone… they need my help, so I need to rescue them."

"Well, I am, too."

I then remembered why silver left in the first place: Blaze's disappearance.

"Have you found a way back yet?"

He looked depressed.

"No… at least, not yet."

"There's still hope?"

"Just over that rise."

He pointed off behind me, two hills past the one we were on.

"What's over there?"

"My last shot, that's what. I've been searching for a way into her dimension for a year. If any place has enough tech to bring me back there, it's over those hills."

"I can help you with this one."

"No, no. You have your own person to save. I don't want to waste your time."

"No, I'm serious. I think I can really help you on this one. If this is your last chance, I'd rather like you not to die in a blaze of glory… no pun intended."

"It's alright. But if you have your own place to be, then I'll have mine. Our people are important to us; we need to focus on ourselves for a while. Again, I appreciate the help, but I need to do this alone."

"Alright, then. Good luck, Silver."

"Take care."

He ran off down the hills, and I began running off to the side. However, when he had run over the second hill, I began to sneak over to him, following him to his destination. When he ran up to the top of the third hill, I, off to the right of him, couldn't believe my eyes.

It was the Metropolis zone, a base made by Robotnik in his first year against me. He built it when Tails and I teamed. The strange was that it was still active. It intrigued me that he still had this place going. It was big, though. As tall as the… oh, what's that tall Earth building… the Empire State Building? I think that's it; correct me if I' wrong (which I probably am). Its width was at least 750 meters wide; depth was just the same. I was surprised that I didn't see before. However, the third hill was the biggest of the three, so that explained it.

I sped up to Silver to inform him of my decision.

"Silver, I'm coming with you."

He yelped at my arrival.

"Sonic, this isn't your place to be."

"It is, Silver. Yes, it is. This is a Robotnik facility, and since the doc took Amy from me, this has to be where he's hiding… for now, anyway."

"Well, if you say so."

"Besides, this means I can help you find a way to Blaze's dimension. I'll help you any way I can."

Silver didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea at first, but it must've grown on him.

"Sounds okay, actually. But we can't work together without communicating with each other. I have an earpiece for conversation, but I don't think I have another one."

I looked down at my right wrist. I forgot to mention it earlier, but when I was snatching stuff on my way out of the workshop, I grabbed another communicator from the kitchen counter (you'd be surprised how many of those Tails had). I showed it to Silver, and he gave me his frequency to call him on. After that, we ventured down the hill to begin the infiltration of the base.

But something told that this wasn't Robotnik's super top-secret base of operations. I had no idea where it could be, but I had a feeling this wasn't it. But I had to save Amy… and that was the important thing at that moment.

* * *

><p>Silver and I split up. He decided to take himself up to the vents. He claimed that he'd do stealthier attacks with his telekinesis in the dark. I believed he could. I chose to zoom through the hallways undetected (security couldn't catch a blur for anything).<p>

As I zoomed through the halls, I nearly ran into a room full of Badniks. I skidded to a stop and jumped back behind the corner wall. I peeked my head around the corner to find the Badniks eyeing a big screen with Robotnik on it.

"Make sure the girl is brought… "safely"… to the reactor room. I'll make sure there is no tro-."

I saw the TV glow green for one second, the next thrown to the ground. The Badniks were completely dumbfounded (or as close to dumbfounded a robot can get) and began to "worry". They weren't worrying long, because they were all lifted into the air and shoved into the flooring. They shattered into pieces, leaving me wondering when I'd get some action.

"Sorry," I could Silver whisper from the vents, "Should've left one for ya."

"It's alright." I whispered back. "Probably would've taken them out before you could."

I then heard my communicator beep. It was so darn loud that it echoed through the halls. I quickly pressed the button.

"That may have called some attention." I answered.

"Just keep looking through the base." Silver diverged. "I'm sure we'll find something."

"What are you looking for, exactly?"

"Something that proves that Blaze's dimension is accessible."

I began to quickly move down the halls, but stopped behind another wall, in the camera's blind spot. I then knelt down.

"Do you even know what the dimension was called?"

"She said it was the 'Sol' dimension. She never told me what 'Sol' meant."

"What makes you think Robotnik knows where it is?"

"Isn't it obvious? Eggman Nega looked like Robotnik, aside from the gray moustache and black suit. They're connected somehow, and you know it."

"I do?"

"When you first met Blaze and fought alongside her, you fought the docs at those… 'crossroads of dimensions' as she called them. Robotnik had to know how to enter and exit that dimensional drift, considering he was able to come out and stay alive."

"Hm… interesting theory."

"It has to be the truth."

"But that's the thing, Silver: it's a theory. You don't know if that's true or not. The dimension may no longer have an exit, let alone an entrance. Heck, as far as we know, the dimension could be dissolved by now."

"Don't say that! I know there's a way there! There has to be a way back."

I began to remember how Tails acted at the end of my argument wit Amy.

"You're very dedicated to her, aren't you?"

"She was my friend. She helped through hard times. To let her death lie in vain would be like spitting on her grave."

"You cared for her. You had feelings for her… you loved her."

Silver was silent for a few seconds. He was probably blushing now.

"Try to find a way to the dimension. Call me when you get there."

"Got it."

I rose from my knee and began to look down the hall. It looked clear, so I checked behind me to make sure no one saw me. Ironically, I was surprised to find a squadron of Badniks at my posterior. I tried to grow a smile.

"Didn't that conversation lighten your spirits… just a LITTLE bit?"

They all began looking at each other. But one turned back to me.

"You have touched my inner child…"

I was almost about to smirk at that.

"…and he's very mad!"

That's when I bolted.

* * *

><p>I zoomed down each hall. Every staircase I encountered was the best way to get up and out of here. As I sprinted down each corridor, I could see the motions of the baffled Badniks: absolutely priceless. When I began to run on the 5th floor, I noticed a room that said "secret storage". Having run past it, I hustled back and jump through the doorway. As I landed, I kicked the door closed. I began to hear to hear the bots pass by 30 seconds later.<p>

I began to wonder why I ran away. Did I fear the Badniks? Heck no, but… maybe I thought I had been caught. It felt like they'd barge through the door any minute. But I tried not to think of that; I instead focused on the room I was hiding in.

The room was dark, but a computer screen lit up the room in this fluorescent white light. I noticed some things that looked familiar… like packs of Crabmeats and Motobugs, left abandoned after I trashed them. I saw my old shoes… the ones I wore to the ARK (I didn't think the doc even had those). But as I looked around the room more, nothing else seemed nostalgic… rather new to me.

I saw these blueprints for an armor system… which looked to fit Robotnik's body. They called for a mineral called "emetitus", something that came from beneath Mobius. I began thinking about it, and realized that Metropolis was probably turning into a processing plant for the stuff. I saw its qualities printed on a list beside the blueprints. It had near invulnerability, brute strength, and could break the sound barrier with each blow. Robotnik wasn't just making any suit of armor; he wanted one that could outmatch me.

I back up from the table, worried sick about my fate, but ended running into the computer. I scanned the desktop, and found one titled "Sol" My mind quickly put aside the armor problem and focused on Silver. I quickly opened the folder… and I couldn't believe it. I called up Silver.

"I have what you need."

"You do? Well, hurry up and tell me, because I'm having a bit of fight right now."

"Can you get in cover?"

"You can't get in cover, fighting this thing."

I began to worry: was Robotnik already _using_ the armor?

"Just get up high or something."

"Sounds good to me."

I heard him shouting and yelling. I heard alarms bring static to his end of the radio. What had I done? I was endangering the safety of Silver, and even endangering the chances of finding his way back to "Sol". Of course, he got away for a few minutes.

"What'd you find?"

"You know about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Yes, I'm sure I do."

"Well… they've been the key back all along."

Silence scrambled our channel for a second.

"What?" Silver asked, astonished at my answer.

"Only those who control the flow of space and time with their specific abilities can bend the balance and set them in the "Sol" dimension. Apparently, the "Sol" dimension holds the greatest of individuals, each with an ability mastered throughout the ages. Only those with those same abilities can travel there."

"How do the Chaos Emeralds work with this?"

"You must recite an ancient riddle, and answer it, all while holding the Chaos Emerald before you. Once answered, the individual will be shot into the "Sol" dimension."

Then I began to think about this.

"Why does Robotnik have these files to begin with?" I asked.

"Inter-dimensional downloads?" Silver suggested, unsure of how space and time worked. "Honestly, the fact that he has them may be bizarre, but it at least completes my trials here for now."

"Trials? What have you been doing for the past year?"

"I've been places that you've never seen before."

I paused for a moment.

"Dude… I've gotten stuck in a storybook."

The base began to shake a bit.

"What was that?" I asked.

"This… stupid beast keeps trying to attack me." Silver explained.

"Where are you?"

"Take the stairs down to the 2nd floor. Follow the white line to the harvesting room. There should be a huge lava pit somewhere nearby."

"I'll meet you down there."

I was about to leave, but then I saw something that caught my eye: 'For Sonny'. I slowly walked back to the console, moved the cursor over it, and clicked on it. A video-player opened up. And I saw… Uncle Chuck.

"Hello, Sonny. Hopefully, Ivo was nice enough to give this to you. If you're watching this, I might already be dead. I just hope I have enough time for this."

I couldn't believe it; Uncle Chuck had left a vid… for me to watch. After all these years… it felt good to hear his voice again.

"Listen… I… I want you to know something about yourself. No one knows this but me. *sigh* You have this… ability… it lets you run… very fast. It kind of explained why you… learned to walk so quickly."

He knew about my secret.

"I made those shoes… specifically for that purpose. Other shoes would burn off of you as quickly as you can run. Those shoes have the frictionless material need to sustain such high speeds. I know this may sound crazy, but… your life was gonna be crazy sooner or later."

He was right about that.

"I gonna get someone to get those… blueprints… depicting an invincible suit of armor. I don't know what will happen to him or her, but I want them to make sure Ivo never makes it… ever."

I thought about this, and then it clicked: Mighty was the one who stole the blueprints. That's what he was celebrating about with Fang. And then another thing clicked: Fang was in cahoots with Robotnik since the families had met earlier. Any offense to Robotnik was an offense to Fang, too. Because Mighty had taken the blueprints, Robotnik ordered Fang to assassinate him, and take back the blueprints. Fang killed him… and probably sent them back… which explained why they were in the secret storage room.

"But I know that you can stop him. I know you will. Your heart is always set on one path. It can never truly be corrupted. I've seen you play with your friends. You always wanted to do things that were the right thing to do. If someone disagreed, you told them to 'get lost.' Heh. Glad I still remember that."

Me too.

"And you ever doubt yourself… just listen to me here… okay? You have the potential to do whatever you want. As long as you stop Ivo and his whole roboticization scheme, I will be forever happy in… whatever life comes after this one. I just want you to know that… no matter how you do what you do…"

A tear shed from my eye.

"…you will always be my sonny boy."

The clip ended. I stood there, motionless. That was the most revealing moment of my entire life. It all made sense. The mystery of Mighty's death had been solved. The blueprints had been identified. And my purpose had been unveiled: Do what you have to do.

And that's what I planned to do.

* * *

><p>I sped down to the 2nd floor, and turned left into the harvesting room. The lava pit was pretty obvious, being 20 feet in diameter, right smack-dab in the middle of the room. I searched for Silver, but I didn't see him… 'till I heard him.<p>

"Look out below!"

I shot my head up to find Silver wrestling with this mechanical wolf thing. It was 4 times his size. When I saw it, I clearly had the right idea; I jumped to my right, and the two took my place at the edge of the lava pit. Silver nearly fell, but he stood back up. The wolf was readying for a final strike.

The wolf was half-wolf, half-tech. He only knew one emotion: mad enough to kick major ass! It only had a small scratch on its left rib. Silver, however, had been mangled and scraped like no body's business. When that wolf came at him, I knew I had to stop it.

I jumped out before it, and the wolf threw me around like a basket ball in a 4 x 4 cubicle. I began getting all these bloody wounds and scraped arms. I even got a scar on one of my quills. The beast had shaken me up pretty bad. We stopped the onslaught of beatings at the same edge of the lava pit. Silver was stuck on the sidelines, trying to tend to his wounds.

The wolf backed up, and now he was readying his final strike for me. This wasn't good.

"Sonic!" Silver yelled to me. "Leave here! Now!"

"I'm not letting you fight this thing alone!"

He looked at the lava pit.

"I'll have him down and out in no time!"

"Just fix yourself! I'll take him on!"

"No, you won't!"

He stood up, and began to sprint towards me. The beast started to charge me down. It leaped into the air, about to take my head by the neck. Silver had hopped into the wolf's biting range. The beast opened its jaw, and then crunched. Silver had bumped into the beast, but they were now beginning to fall into the pit. I reached out for Silver's hand. From under the beast, Silver reached for mine. We got close, but all I grabbed onto was his wrist ring. Pulling only that away, Silver fell into the lava pit, the beast holding him within its mouth. I looked away before I saw him melt into the deadly lake below.

I had now lost Silver. Why did I have to lose another person, after all this? I fell to my knees, his ring still in my hand. I closed my eyes and shouted to the ceiling.

"WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME? WHY?"

My hands fell to the floor, and I just began to sob my heart out. But then I remembered the last thing I could save to make this trip worth something: Amy.

"Oh, god! I need to move!"

I know it seems mean that I completely put aside Silver's death for Amy, but it was the only way to redeem this trip's value.

I ran around to the right of the lava pit. Inspecting every part of the wall, I soon found a barrier, blocking off a hallway. I spin-dashed through the barricade, finding myself in a moonlit room. The moon only lit the left side of this hall. I remembered this place: the small flat surface, the windows at the corner of the ceiling, and… yes, even the downhill ramp toward… well, I had forgotten.

I walked to the edge, and looked down the ramp. It was covered with dirt and grimy substances. Nature had flooded its way into the facility, specifically this space.

Before thinking of running down, I noticed the ring in my hand. I looked at Shadow's ring and thought, _If I can use Shadow's powers…_

I slipped Silver's ring onto my left hand, which also contained the crystal ring. Having put it on, I then wondered how I would be able to use it.

I hadn't a clue, but I knew that this was definitely the link to the prophecy. The powers of light-bending projectiles and telekinetic finesse: the main powers of the prophetic hero. This was it.

But as I inspected myself, I noticed how much damage I had taken: I had lost some friends, lost some enemies, and had been burnt, scraped, and even wounded fighting for what I believed was right. I had mostly been endangering myself out of everyone I had lost up to that day. And that's when I realized, as I began running down that hill, that my friends weren't my greatest enemy. My enemies weren't even my greatest enemy. In fact, what actually was my greatest enemy then was somewhat surprising. The big truth had been revealed.

My own speed was now my greatest enemy.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it. That, my friends, is the end of Act II. Act III, while it may seem it ends with the prologue, isn't actually going to end there. There are a few more dilemmas that must occur to lead to the final climatic battle between good and evil. I hope you guys enjoyed the first two acts, because this one is a dosey.<strong>

**If Act I was The Mystery Begins, and Act II was The Chaos Emerald Search, then Act III would be Defying Fate. This is a big milestone for me, and I'm not about to let it go to waste. I hope you guys enjoy the ending of Act II, and I hope you all will read the conclusion of the story, Act III, which may be a few chapters long.**

**By the way, by the time you're reading this part of the chapter, the name of the story may have changed. If that hasn't happened for you, try refreshing the chapter. If that doesn't work, please go back to where you found the story, and it should be different. In case you guys are wondering, people voted for a series. Not all were "yes", however. Check my profile, for it should boast the results of the poll. I'll explain where I'm going with the story once this novel is finished.**

**Anyways, don't forget to review! *sigh* It feels weird having to say only that again. Feels like just yesterday I said those three commands (Review, Request, & Vote!). But, in any case, please review! Read ya later!**


	25. Time To Juice

**Act III/Chapter XXIV: Time To Juice**

I looked down at my hand and closed my eyes as I gripped with all of my strength onto it, telling myself there was no turning back. Tears began to drip from my eyes. As I began to sob, I felt the urge to speak. Only seconds before I pulled that switch, I said to myself,

"I'm sorry, Amy."

* * *

><p>The rope was cut, and she began to fall, her screams muffled under the tape. My eyes still closed to attempt to keep my tears back, I couldn't stand letting her fall alone. At that moment, I hopped onto the console and broke through the window, shoulder first. I had enough momentum to reach her from the window.<p>

I didn't want her to die alone. If she was gonna die, then so would I. I loved her… so much… I just couldn't let her go… not like the others. I owed it to Uncle Chuck to be at least one person as they died.

I flew down at Amy, and I hugged her tight. Surprisingly enough, the drop was far enough to let me yank the tape off of her mouth and kiss her. It wasn't the best kiss we'd had. In fact, our first was probably the best, but at least this one meant something more: goodbye.

I released the kiss and hugged her tightly. I could feel her becoming calmer, but I could feel myself, with my eyes closed, wishing there was a way back up. It was damnation at this point. However, I got this strange, physical feeling… like I'd been stopped. I didn't know what did it at first… but I certainly felt like I was dreaming.

I opened my eyes up, and I saw the lava, simply staying eleven feet away from us. We weren't moving past the walls; we weren't moving past the crane; it was like time had stopped… or so I'd thought.

I looked down more at the lava, but then I noticed something… my hands, wrapped around Amy… they were glowing green. I looked at the rest of my body; they were glowing green, too. I looked over to see Amy, almost completely speechless at this act, saying,

"You can fly?"

I switched her from my left side to my right, as to look at my left wrist. When I looked at it, Silver's ring was glowing. I noticed that I used this power when I wanted something "out of my reach" to happen. It was weird, but it made sense. I looked up at the room, then at the Mobians being placed in the safe zone, then at the lava pit.

I said to myself, "So that's how you use it."

Lifting my hand up, I began to fly upwards. I used the telekinesis on myself. This was a strange experience. I had flown on things like the Tornado before, but that was when I rode them; I was never really into flying solo. That's why I sucked at flying the buzz-bomber near the Egg Carrier… and why I wasn't comfortable when flying in the Metropolis Zone.

I hovered over to the safe zone, the one the Mobians were dropped off in. Letting Amy off, I told her my plan.

"Listen, Amy. You go find the other Mobians. They shouldn't be too far. Tell them to take some parked Badnik carriers and make their getaway. Oh… and tell them not to squeeze altogether into one of them. That doesn't work. Make sure they are divided accordingly."

"What about you?" She asked me.

"I won't find Robotnik in time, with the whole countdown and all, but I can make him anxious."

"How?"

"Just get moving! I'll explain later. Oh, and Amy."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry… for what I said. I just… I-."

"Just do what you have to do."

As she turned to head down the corridor, I turned to view the crane again. There was this humongous machine that held the cranes together. Looking down at the lava, I began to think: _If I pull it down into the lava, the countdown may have a reduced time. I'll have to get people out quicker to do that. Ah, it's worth it._

I believed that Robotnik was using this countdown to get all of his resources packed up for more effective use somewhere else. If I could reduce the countdown clock (which was now at 45 seconds remaining), I could make Robotnik scramble and lose track of things, making his final assault (if any) less effective. It seemed stupid, what with the hostages escaping and all, but I had to do the best thing possible: whatever I had to do.

Lifting my left arm, I shot the crane with a green glow. When it lit up like a Chaos Emerald, I knew I was ready. I pulled down, as hard as I could, and the crane lost its bearings and began to fall down into the lava pit.

"T-minus 20 seconds." A voice announced over a loud speaker.

"Time to juice!" I said at once.

I turned to the corridor, and, with my newfound will, courage, and overwhelming strength, I ran past my injuries and sped down the corridor. Every step might've hurt, but I began to build a resistance to it. I built this barrier within me… one that blocked out the pain of others and the pain I endured alone. I realized that speed might've been my greatest enemy… but it was also my greatest asset. It was a love-hate relationship, you could say.

As I went down, I saw Amy running at the end. It wasn't a long corridor, but, to me, she got pretty far in only 10 seconds. As I reached her, I saw the Mobians piling into separate Badnik carriers. I then took control.

"Fly away from here… as far as possible! Don't come back this way 'till we give the all-clear!"

While they began pulling away, I shot over to Amy, picked her up as anyone on a honeymoon would, and sped off down this mechanical road, filled with tubing and machinery that most likely kept the lava in tact.

"T-minus ten seconds." I heard the voice announce in the distance.

The pipes began to burst, and the machinery collapsed. Every small spark of danger I saw, I kept pushing harder and harder, hoping my speed wouldn't give out. Not only was I saving myself, but Amy too. She buried her head into my shoulder. I lowered head and led with it onward. I nearly hit a sonic boom by the time we'd hit the second third of the runway.

"5…"

I closed my eyes.

"…4…"

I held Amy tighter as we progressed.

"…3…"

I felt the grass beneath my feet. No more machinery; only plains.

"…2…"

I began to lose speed. I was losing my strength to push on.

"…1…"

I telekinetically pulled myself up and out to the sky.

And it blew.

* * *

><p>The door opened, and I saw Tails, shocked at my arrival. With my injuries weighing Amy and I down, it took us about an hour to get back. Tails, while he was probably sleeping when I was heading back, was now fully awake at the sight of Amy and me.<p>

"Sonic!" Tails gasped. "What happened to you?"

I was carrying Amy like I did when I escaped. She had fallen asleep at my shoulder after the Metropolis Zone had exploded. To my knowledge, the Mobian hostages made it out alive. I never really saw them after that. I guess they went off on their daily lives. But even then, they probably couldn't live the same way again, having been part of a hostage situation.

I limped through the doorway, Tails stepping aside to let me have the right of way. When I looked around, I noticed that Knuckles was sitting on the futon. He had healed up and freshened up in the time I was away. He stood up when I made eye contact with him.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"It's a long story." I replied.

"Obviously, those scrapes and burns you have acquired came from a nearly endless struggle, plausibly from a beast-like creature."

I looked over to the side table next to the kitchen to see Omochao standing on it. He began to hover when I set Amy down on the futon.

"Is she alright?" Tails asked.

"Her vital signs look normal." Omochao answered. "She is merely resting. Exhilarating experiences such as the ones the doctor has been through would give the feeling of having to rest."

"The doctor?"

"He means me, Tails." I explained.

"He just thinks you're the doc?"

"More or less."

"What's that on your left wrist, Sonic?" Knuckles asked me.

I looked down to see, along with the Crystal Ring, Silver's wrist ring.

"I got this from Silver."

"You saw Silver? How is he doing?"

"You mean how he _was_ doing."

"Wait… no."

Tails didn't think that Silver had died. He sat on the futon, careful not to wake up Amy. He simply stared off towards where the horizon would be, most likely trying to come to terms with the loss. I knew just how he felt; Silver's death put psychological tribulations on my mind as well.

"Did you just take it from him?" Knuckles asked.

"He sacrificed himself for my sake… this ring was all that was left."

"I'm reading high-energy signatures coming from the ring." Omochao observed. "What exactly is being stored in it?"

"You really want to know?"

"It'd help us all-AHHH!"

I began to lift up, down, and all around the living room. Knuckles and Tails were shocked at first, but Tails remained in awe while Knuckles began to just laugh.

"The prophecy really is becoming true." He said while trying to make it understood his laughter.

"Now all we need is a dark evil, and we'll be all set." Tails said.

I placed Omochao down on the floor.

"Robotnik is the dark evil." I explained to them.

Knux and Tails didn't think of him in that way. I guess they were expecting some great god to crush us. But I guess that just comes with repetitive encounters with them. I explained the whole situation to them: the message from Uncle Chuck, Fang's ties with Robotnik, the new armor, and his idea of my purpose.

"Has Robotnik made this armor?" Tails asked.

"I'm not sure." I replied. "As far as I can tell, it's still in the development stage."

"Well, it's best if we can stop him soon." Knuckles said. "He owes me a day of fighting."

"We need time to rest. She needs time to rest. I need time to rest."

"Sonic, I think we're capable of-."

"Knuckles, did you not hear what I just said? We _need_ to rest. We won't be efficient in our last battle with Robotnik if we're tired as heck."

"Our last battle?" Tails asked. "You really think so?"

"Well, with all the assets we've gained, I think a final assault is necessary."

"You think we could actually win this?"

"Tails, I nearly doubted our efforts before. I believed that I wasn't the hero and was never meant to be. But now I know the truth: I must do whatever I have to do to defeat Robotnik one last and final time… and I'm not letting Uncle Chuck down on this one."

Tails and Knuckles agreed, nodding their heads in unison. We had reached an agreement.

"How long will you need to rest up, doctor?" Omochao asked.

"Considering my injuries," I began, while limping over to him, "I think I'll only need tonight. That suits everybody?"

"Works with me." Knuckles agreed. "I an get some training in,"

"There's an exercise regime down in the lab." Tails commented. "As for you, Sonic, I say we should put you on the lab bed. You suffered lots of trauma back there. Medical attention is most likely critical at this point."

"What about Amy?" I asked, concerned for her well-being.

"I'll stay up here to keep track of her life signs." Omochao answered. "She'll be fine as long she gets enough sleep."

"Good. We need all the help we can get."

"Wait, Amy's gonna help on the assault?" Tails asked.

"Tails, if we went in as a squad of three, we'd be butchered to death. We need not only Amy, but a few good groups of individuals who we know will help."

"I already know them."

"Alright. Try to contact them, and tell them to be ready to charge."

"Wait, Sonic." Knuckles demanded.

Tails and I were next to the elevator. I turned to face him.

"Where is Robotnik's actual base?" He asked.

"I know that." Omochao stated.

"Really?" Knuckles asked, turning frantically towards the mini-bot. "Where? Where is he?"

Tails and I had just started our trip down by the time he asked that. I was relieved. I'd been through so much that day. First, I lost Bark. Next, I lost Silver. Finally, I nearly killed myself trying to save Amy. What a day.

Tails led me to the bed, and I rolled onto it. After pressing some projected buttons, Tails told me I'd be fine as long as I was asleep. He said that he'd have everything sorted out by the time I woke up. He told me to close my eyes, and I did.

This was it: the final countdown. When I fell asleep, I remember thinking of our final journey to Robotnik's base. I didn't know what would happen, but I knew that we'd win no matter what the cost. However, there were some costs that were… surprising… but I'll get to those later. Right now, just taking a nap sounds like a battle plan.

* * *

><p><strong>That is Chapter XXIV. Hope you enjoyed. I was hoping to enter more chapters in tonight, and maybe I will, but don't count on it.<strong>

**Anyways, this chapter picked up where the prologue left off, and I thought I'd put in a little bit of it to substantiate what happened after he started down the hill. Anyways, I wanted the discovery of telekinesis to be strange and unthinkable. Besides, I didn't want to leave Sonic and Amy in such a bad end of a relationship. By the way, they're still together. Things are just a little… sour… between them.**

**These last several chapters are of the final assault. Strangely enough, Act III will contain the least amount of chapters, mostly because it is the climax of the book. I hope that this was a great beginning of Act III. And I also hope you like the title change (tell me if you have better ideas for Book I's title.).**

**Anyways, don't forget to review! Read ya later!**


	26. Building Bridges

**Act III/Chapter XXV: Building Bridges**

"How are you, sleepyhead?"

Amy was sitting next to me, her hand petting my quills. My eyes were trying to wake up, but I was somehow able to speak, even though I was relatively tired.

"I feel… good, actually."

"Tails fixed you up nicely. A bandage here, a pat-pat there, and you look like you used to."

"Well, he's spent a good amount of time with me these past few years, so I suspect he knows me well."

"Not as much as I do, right?"

"Amy, you know I'd never keep anything from you. Heck, I even told you about my bathroom mishap when I was two."

"Hee, hee! You lived a very interesting life, Sonic. Too bad it had to change."

"Too bad?" I began, beginning to sit up and hop out of bed. "If half the stuff yesterday hadn't happened, I wouldn't be with you here today."

Amy stood up, telling me, "Of course you would."

"Maybe, but not under the same circumstances."

We both locked hands together and walked down the runway. It felt amazing to walk with her again. The warm embrace of her hand, the sky's overwhelming blue at the end of the tunnel, and overall fresh air… overall, it just felt like a great morning. We talked and talked as we walked to the runway.

"You kind of wish it didn't take as long to get there, don't you?" Amy asked me.

She had to ask that. I sped off down the runway, and we both stood at the end of the tunnel. The sky gave off its luminescent blue, the sun reflected its majesty across the water, and the atmosphere of our planet simply beautified our arrival.

"How's this?" I asked her.

"I've never actually been down here before. I guess it comes with being a newbie and all."

"Newbie? What would make you a newbie?"

"Well, I've never helped you on your missions before. I always acted as a damsel in distress. I never was a help to you before."

"Amy… do you really think that you've never helped us? Your enthusiasm and moral boosts are just what we need. Now, granted, our argument last night wasn't any moral booster, but I still knew you fully. But your praise helps us focus all our strength into winning. You've been helping us ever since you regarded Robotnik as a 'fat and evil man with a paint brush for a moustache'."

Amy blushed. It was true, though… and she knew it. Her greatest help to us was her undying faith in our victory. No matter how high the forces were stacked against us, she was the one whispered in our ears, "Shout the battle-cry." She was truly an inspirational force for all of us.

"You're our cheerleader." I continued. "Actually, you _were_ our cheerleader."

"Is that so?" she asked.

"You're coming with us on this final run. We can't do it without you."

Amy looked down at the ocean far below the entrance. The ocean blue reflected in her eyes, creating an oasis for her pupils to dwell in. He eyes simply stared into the waters, discovering what was truly needed to keep the waters as the waters. She turned back to me.

"On one condition." She stated.

"And that would be?"

"I get to finally teach you how to dance."

I cringed at the thought of me dancing. People were always spreading rumors about me being the best dancer on South Island. I always detested them, but somehow they believed. It made me want to hit people sometimes. However, Amy was actually a very good dancer, but not as noticed. If she were to teach me to dance, I would actually agree with people for once. In fact, that's why half the people on South Island hate me: I always disagree with their stupid rumors.

"That… sounds like a deal." I replied.

"Good to know. But if this doesn't work out, you're getting a hammer to the face. That's for sure."

"There's only one way this is gonna turn out: you'll be living, and I'll be in awe."

She giggled and we kissed once more. This one felt different, what with the outside air shielding us and the sunlight bringing happiness to our blood. We both felt the heat of the moment. I could feel her heart rate fasten, and I knew that this was gonna be the best day of my entire life.

However, the moment was interrupted after a good thirty seconds, because Tails decided to call Amy on her new wrist communicator.

"Yes, Tails?"

"Is Sonic up yet?" Tails asked.

"He's up and at 'em." She giggled.

"Great. Send him up for a little briefing on the situation."

"Sounds like a good idea. He's on his way."

As Amy turned around, she noticed that no one was standing behind her.

"Sonic!" She complained. "I hate it when he does that."

* * *

><p>I had just gotten in the elevator by the time she said that. I pressed the button for the first floor, and I awaited my arrival. Once up at Tails's bedroom, I saw him hanging at his computer. He had a few documents pulled out on the screen.<p>

"Nice of you to join us." Tails greeted me.

That's a great way to say, "Good morning" to someone, by the way.

"Wait," I began, "what do you mean 'us'?"

He slid some of the documents around on the screen, and revealed two video players, both playing a live stream. One depicted Rouge the Bat; the other was occupied by the Babylon Rogues. Both of the streamers were surprised to see me, actually. Must've been a while.

"I was able to get the Metal City police to free the Babylon Rogues for this event." Tails explained. "They said that, until the time arises for them to do their part, they'd simply wait in the jailhouse. An officer is letting them use a webcam at the moment. Rouge is part of the government, so she obviously has one."

"What is the plan at the moment?"

"Omochao?" Tails asked, knowing that Omochao had the answer.

"Ah, yes. You see, Robotnik's Metropolis Zone was not his final base."

"I gathered that much. If it were, he'd be complaining to our phone by now."

"Of course, but his final base is actually on the north side of the island. It has remained cloaked for a while now. Fortunately, I can override the system and let the base be seen."

"Where do these guys come in?" I asked, directing it toward the Babylon Rogues.

The Rogues began straighten themselves up when mentioned.

"We've been discussing this for a little while now." Jet said. "Your fox friend and my team have reached an agreement on our role: we will try to hold the air forces surrounding the base. The little bot told us there'd be plenty of them, so we'll be busy throughout the fight."

"How are you gonna fight in the air? You don't have any Chaos Emeralds."

"Oh, yeah. Why can't we use those instead?"

"It's too risky." Tails explained. "Not to say you will be defeated, but if you happened to be overwhelmed and captured, then a good portion of the Chaos Emeralds will be in Robotnik's grasp. We can't have that."

"What will they do without them?" I asked.

"We have our own gear that grants us flight. Think of them as a hang-glider with boosters and lasers."

"C-can I have one?"

"Not at the moment."

"Anyways," Tails continued, "they'd supply our side with air support."

"What about Rouge?" I asked.

"She said that she could send in squads of soldiers to aid on the ground. Robotnik will know we're coming before we even see him, most likely, so Rouge's soldiers will help with baiting their attention… and also decreasing the chances of his victory."

"What about us?" I asked.

"Knuckles, Amy, and I have contacted the Chaotix, so they'll be joining the fight. Of course, they don't have a webcam, so they couldn't be seen here. However, we will fly to Robotnik's tower and infiltrate it. We'll try to keep tabs on what he's doing and how he's dealing with everything going on. At some point, and we'll tell you when, we'll send ourselves out to fight off his forces."

"Am I going with you?"

"In a sense. Sonic, you're going to charge through the battlegrounds, wary of Rouge's forces and aware of Robotnik's, and storm the gate from the bottom."

"Sounds like fun. When do we strike?"

"In a few hours tops."

I checked my wrist for the wrist communicator, but it wasn't there (must've been taken by some Metropolis debris). I looked to Tails for the time, and he motioned the computer's clock. It was 11:17am. At 2pm, we'd strike. For once, I felt like I had too much time.

"I'm ready to leave when you guys are."

"Sounds good." Tails agreed.

"Hopefully you live up to your name." Jet said, trying to intimidate me.

"Jet, remind me who ate plasma projectiles to the face and got arrested due to high-speed shenanigans? I believe that was you, buddy."

Jet began to grumble to himself. I began to walk back down to the living room. As I stood in front of a window, looking out at the horizon, I began to think about what we were risking. These certainly were not the best circumstances to be in, but we had no choice now. We either would give up or push on to whatever victory we get. You already know which one we wanted. The problem was doing it correctly.

I heard the elevator shoot up to the first floor, and the doors opened to reveal Knuckles. He seemed better since I had last seen him (when I came back from the Metropolis Zone, I barely even remembered that he was Knuckles; I didn't really even recognize him). His left arm seemed like no damage had been done to it. He seemed like he did before we fought Nack again.

"So…" he began, "what have I missed over the past few days?"

"A lot." I told him.

"Like what?"

"Just a polar bear with ice powers, an egg carrier crashing into the forest, and me risking my life to save Amy. I'm just getting somewhat overwhelmed."

"I'd be overwhelmed as well, believe me."

"It just seems like wherever I go, people just don't want to be friends. It's either because they don't know you or hate you. I swear, people just make me sick."

"That's what I used to think… 'till you told me about what my dad truly meant."

"You know that was a theory."

"Yes, but a substantiated theory. It makes sense to me. I can see what he wanted to do in the first place. It's almost like you knew my father before any of this happened."

"Trust me; if I could talk to spirits, none of this could've happened."

"Just have faith in how you're doing now. Everything is gonna be in your favor. I know it will."

"Since when have you had faith in anyone, Knux? You didn't even shake my hand after we beat Nack."

"I didn't?"

I face-palmed myself. What a dolt.

"Sonic," Knuckles continued, "I know I've acted as a jerk sometimes, but that was with some good reason. In the end, when everything might actually end, you need to build some bridges. I know you and I have had a love-hate relationship, but I think these odds won't make that not work. In fact, I believe they'll help us stick together."

"Knux, you've been stuck on an island since you were born. I'm actually surprised that you know so much about forming friendships with people."

"Hey, it started with you."

I smirked. Knuckles seemed different now. He now looked more extroverted and wanted his ideas on the table. He was much more used to people and what they did on the island across from his. He seemed much calmer. He knew how to make a friend if need be. And he got this way because of me. I felt… grateful.

"What's the plan?" He asked.

"Go ask Tails. He'll give you the details."

"You don't remember what he told you?"

"I only remember the part with me."

"Ha. As usual."

Knuckles walked up the stairwell. I looked back out of the window. The blue sky, without a cloud in sight, seemed endless. I felt that even though it seemed endless, it could come to an end. However, that would only be if Robotnik won. I had to make sure that the sky stayed the way it was, or else it'd be covered with clouds, banning us from ever seeing the light of day or the shine of night.

I was determined. And I didn't want to be undetermined. I began to get ready. I got all of my upgrades, stored the Chaos Emeralds back down in the lab, and slapped on my backpack. This was it. This was our final strike.

* * *

><p>"We're getting pretty close!" Tails yelled over the rushing wind.<p>

Tails was piloting the Tornado-III. Amy and Knuckles were able to share the same seat (Tails adjusted it a little bit for some comfort for two passengers). I, of course, stood on the wings. Clouds began to form as we neared the northern part of South Island. I was somehow still standing on the wings, which alone is a remarkable feat.

"So I'm the first one off?" I asked.

"That's correct. Rouge and the Rogues have already started their attack, so you should have some cover."

"Tails, Robotnik's base is ground zero in war. I don't see how the ground army battle is cover."

"True, but you'll figure it out."

I gave him this confused face, and then turned to find the cloud rate beginning to lower. After they all zoomed behind, I couldn't believe we had made it: Robotnik's base. It looked like a mixture of old chivalry architecture and advanced technology. Robotnik always had a taste for an old-fashioned look, but wanted to take a modern day spin on it. He was famous for it. Not only did it look good, but it also was being obscured every several seconds by a flying Badnik.

The entire premise was covered in soldiers. I could see the Mobian army charging at each and every Badnik within reach. I could see Rouge coordinating the long-ranged offense. The Babylon Rogues were flying around, all in these little hang-glider contraptions. Each one correlated to a bird's color, and had a certain style laser attached to it. Jet and the others had headsets on to communicate with each other and Rouge. All this was happening from about a mile from us.

"This is where I get off." I stated.

Still holding onto the plane, I hopped off the wings and grasped the corner of Tails seat. Holding onto it, I waited for my drop-off zone to come within range.

"Sonic, wait a second." Tails said, digging around at his legs.

I wondered what the heck he was doing. How he was able to fly the plane and search his luggage at the same time was beyond me. He finally got a hold of it, and looked up at me like he deserved some thanks for it. He raised his arm from the cockpit, and I was astonished.

"The Rogues let me have a blueprint of their latest tech. I thought that I'd give you it. It'll help with your charge down to the doc's base."

It was a hoverboard. It had gray rubber for the foot padding, and had a blue coat over the basic shape of spikes. It had a yellow outline around the rubber, and it even had the light trail coming fro the back. I took it in absolute gratitude.

He then handed me that little doohickey of his… the little blast gun that could shatter a robot in pieces. The one from the beginning, remember? He handed it over, and I carefully (I didn't want to fall off so soon) placed it in my SatAm backpack. I smiled at him.

"Tails, what would I do without you?"

"Not this."

I chuckled. I then switched my attention down to the battlegrounds. My drop-off zone was coming up in 3…

"See you all on the far side." I told everyone.

2…

I began to build my courage to let go and fall down to the ground.

1…

But the hoverboard presented some new changes to my approach.

…GO!

This was gonna be good.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait once again! I got hit with exams. Thankfully, I'll have time tomorrow and Friday to get the last few chapters up. I really hope you guys are looking forward to the big assault.<strong>

**It turns out that the final day I can actually write is June 2nd, this Saturday. So guess what that means: more time to write! I have three more days to finish this story. Can I finish it in time? We shall see, huh?**

**I bet some of you were expecting the final assault to really happen this chapter. Sorry, but those stomachs aching for awesomeness will have to wait a little bit on that one (tomorrow at noon). I have time, so let's get this thing done, shall we?**


	27. The Big Push

**Act III/ Chapter XXVI: The Big Push**

The Badniks that were combating Rouge's government forces hadn't set their scanners on me yet. The Rogues were attempting to control the skies, and Rouge was beginning to order her soldiers out of my range. She saw me coming down. She knew I was coming through.

I placed the board underneath me and planted my feet firmly upon it. It felt almost natural to use this thing. I never believed that I'd become accustomed to the board's feel so quickly. But no matter the reason, I still fell to the sandy grove that spread around Robotnik's fortress. Just as I closed in on the ground, I saw boost button near the back of the board. I slid my foot back to press it in, and… let's just say it moved almost as fast as I would.

I booked it to the battlefield. I was having the time of my life, soaring across the ground without the need for footwork. I looked up to see the rows of Badniks before me. Holding up my hands, I readied myself to multitask like hell.

"Take this, yo!" I yelled as I began my bombardment.

I threw out my Chaos Spears, blowing up several of the front Badniks. I then used my telekinesis on a big mech behind them and slammed him into the sand. The explosion sent hundreds of Badniks flying… and I was the only one laughing. But more Badniks were on the way, each wielding different weapons and technologies. Sure, Robotnik had an army… but we had me.

More Chaos Spears and telekinesis were used, each damaging the army's forefront and leading down a straightforward path. It was one of the more chaotic battles I'd been in; my new powers opened more dynamic ways of defeating the doc's forces. I was pulling Badniks apart, blowing up the barrels of their laser weapon. Hell, I even picked up one of Rouge's rocket troopers so he could blow an oversized mech to smithereens.

I began to near the gridlock doors. They were closed, and it seemed like you needed a passcode to get in. Now, wait a minute… what if your soldiers had to retreat back, during a battle, and they had to take the time to input a 5-letter code just to have the doors open as slow as molasses. Honestly, Robotnik really didn't like his army… although, I can see why.

But I was Sonic… Sonic the Hedgehog! I hadn't the time for such a ludicrous drama as opening the doors to the land of Oz. I had to get through. Besides, these flying Badniks had flown past the Babylon Rogues and had taken sight of me on my path of destruction. They were beginning to gain on me, so I had to act fast. They seemed to be the destructive type, so bringing them into Ro-butt-nik's base would do wonders.

Using Silver's ring, I pulled the doors from their hinges and threw them into the inner walls. The Badniks followed me into this grand hall of sorts. Once again, like the outer walls had shown, it was mixed with old chivalry architecture and advanced technology. It went on for at least a mile. I guess Robotnik, while he was pretty slow, liked to travel long distances in his hovercraft… ain't that ironic?

The mechs began firing at me, but I swerved between the bullets. They began to overtake me and fire at my front, but I must've known more telekinesis than I thought, because once the bullets came hurling at me, I produced a telekinetic barrier around me and my board. Nifty, huh? But I noticed these poles on the left side of the hall. Maybe they were lampposts, maybe they weren't, but I knew that one Badnik was flying relatively close to them. And so I formulated a plan to take down these two mechs and resume my search for Robotnik in silence.

I took down my kinetic barrier and swerved to the left, closer to the poles. I threw Chaos Spears to the mech on the right of the hallway. With my telekinesis, I picked up one pole and turned to horizontal. The Badniks on the left of the hallway knew what was coming.

The Badnik on my right wasn't out of the picture though. So I swerved back to the middle of the hall, and launched the pole straight into the left mech and pulverizing the right one with multiple Chaos Spears. It blew into pieces, and I narrowly missed them all. As the left mech blew sparks and the right mech ceased to exist, I hopped off of my board, picking it up as I jumped. I then skidded to a stop, dust gathering behind me. I had gained enough speed to the Flash jealous.

Once I halted, I looked back at the entrance. It was now three-quarters of a mile away. I saw the Badniks trying to take back the battlefield, but the soldiers were pushing them back. We were winning… for the most part.

I quickly found a spot to hide from any other form of detection. The hall was quite dark, but robots don't need flashlights to see in the dark. Once I hid myself, I called up Tails.

"How's it comin', lil' bro?" I asked.

"Three mechs tried to take us down." Tails informed me. "They laid a few hits, but nothing major. I took out one, but two got past me. Did they get taken out?"

I looked back down the hallway.

"Yep."

"Awesome. Knuckles, Amy, and I have arrived at the landing deck. We're gonna try and disable any security regulations to Robotnik's room. But we have to get down to the power cell level to lower the security measures. That could take some time."

"What? Taking down the security?"

"That'll be a breeze. The slow part is getting down there. We're about three stories from the level it's on."

"Three stories? That's not that bad."

"I'm reading Badniks on the next few floors."

"Oh, that's nothing! You've got your wrench weapon, Knux, and Amy's hammer. I think you stand a chance. In fact, I'll meet you half way. I'm on the first floor."

"I'm on the eighth."

"Meet you there."

I stood up, and ran from the main hall, beginning my race to meet Tails at the power cell level.

* * *

><p>No Badniks were on the upper floors. However, that changed when I arrived at the fifth floor, where Tails and I promised we'd meet. As I arrived at the door, I kicked it down to see a shiny, light-gray room filled with Badniks. They were commanding officers… or trying to be, at least. They looked over at me as I entered the room.<p>

"Hey, guys. Um, can everyone here line up according to height for their beatdowns?"

The Badniks readied their weapons.

"No, no. I said 'line up', not 'line of fire'."

They shot anyway.

As I hopped around, using my homing attack on each of them, I heard pounding from above. The ceiling then cracked open, revealing a giant mech, falling through the floors one by one. As it passed by, one red guy climbed up from the next hole it made: Knuckles.

"Good to see you back in action!" I said, returning to combat.

"Same to you." He answered.

We began to beat down Badniks, just like old times. I'd kick one up near him, and he'd slam into another Badnik. I'd homing attack one Badnik, he'd uppercut the same one afterwards. I felt like this was the best fight with Knuckles I'd ever experienced. To see him and I beating down evil once again, it could've brought tears to my eyes had I not been in such a fight.

After a several seconds of fighting alongside Knuckles, we backed up into each other. We were startled by our sudden bump, but we realized that there were only two more Badniks left, one for me and one for him. We turned our respective Badniks. We ended up ducking under their punches, but they readied their stomps as we did. We flinched, but then we heard the sound metal being crunched and punctured. We opened our eyes to find our Badniks. Mine had been thrown into the wall left of the entrance by Amy's hammer; Knux's was stabbed by Tails's wrench. Knuckles breathed sighs of relief and rose up to reconvene with those two.

"This is the level for the power cells?" Knuckles asked.

"Sure is." Tails answered. "It's not this room, but if we don't go up or down from here, we should find it relatively quickly."

"What level is Robotnik on, anyway?" I asked.

"He's most likely near the upper levels, surveying the battle."

"All whilst eating a Subway sandwich." I added.

"More than likely." Knux concurred.

"We'll continue to search on this floor." Tails continued. "Sonic, you can start heading up to the higher levels. With any luck, Robotnik will be easy to find."

"And hopefully, it doesn't take two trains and a bus to get around him this time."

They all chuckled at that.

"Good luck, Sonic. We'll meet you at level eight when you've taken him down." They head to the entrance I had made. I began to head further down to the opposite side of the room. However, I got tugged at the arm, which sent twirling back. As I began to ask what happened, I met Amy's lips. A fairly quick one.

"That one's for good luck." She said, after she pulled away.

We both held each other's gaze for a few seconds. I could see how delicate I had been to her, and how comfortable she was to be with. I knew I made the right choice telling Amy about my feelings. Knux called for Amy, as he and Tails were already heading down the next hall.

"She turned to the door, then back to me.

"I love you." She said before turning to the door and hurrying over.

"I love you, too." I responded. Once she hopped through the doorway and scurried to the next hallway, I ran over to the other door. I loved Amy, and nothing was gonna stop me from winning this thing and being with her.

As the door began to open, I got a call from Tails's workshop.

"Um, hello?" I answered.

"Hello, doctor." Omochao answered.

"Omochao! What's up?"

"I'm here with the… "Chaotix", as the fox called them in his files. They, along with my hyper intelligence, will be aiding you in you trip throughout the rest of your trip."

"What are the Chaotix doing there? I thought they'd provide some sort of ground support."

"Well, the croc and the chameleon were once tech experts, so they will be helping you with the layouts of each level you're on."

"How do you know the layouts? You didn't even know where this base truly was before this, let alone the layout."

"The fox sent me an uplink to his communicator. With this, I can gain control of the base's computer database and inspect the layouts of each floor."

"Well, ain't that convenient?"

"I'm sorry. I don't understand."

"Well, you just happened to be able to harvest the files need to know the layouts. It's like you were built only to do that."

"Well, you did get lost on your ships a lot, doctor."

"Hey!" I exclaimed. But then I remembered why he called me "doctor".

"Oh, wait…" I continued. "Nevermind."

"Why did you make them so convoluted, doctor?"

"Honestly, I don't even know."

I had snuck through a long hallway, dodging cameras and trip lasers now and then. I had reached a convenient elevator plaza by the time I had answered.

"So what floor is our target at, Omochao?" I asked.

I pressed the button for the elevator to come down.

"Using some rough estimates, which is about as far as I can compute this information at the moment, the target should be on the twelfth floor."

The doors opened, and I went inside, pressing the button for "12".

"What do I do once I'm on that floor?"

"Chameleon?" Omochao asked.

I heard some ruffling of machinery.

"It's Espio, you little son of a-."

"Guys?" I interrupted.

"Sonic!" Espio said instead.

"Where do I go once I'm at twelve?"

"Well," I heard from Charmy, "You may or may not hit puberty. The girls will more likeable and less 'ewww!' than before."

"That's not what he meant, Charmy!" I heard Vector shout.

"It still would help him to know so that when he's twelve…"

"He's seventeen! Seventeen!"

"Espio, where do I go?"

"The floor is packed with a good amount of sentries, but you shouldn't have a problem with them. Then, you'll find the hyper-ventilated, instant-corresponding, infinite-psyonic, kinetically-powered-."

"In English!" I interrupted.

Vector grabbed the mic.

"Find the computer room!" he shouted.

He slammed it back into Espio's face, or so it sounded like. After a few seconds, Espio returned to talking.

"Yeah. That's what you need to do."

Thanks." I answered, and I hung up the call.

Man, what a bunch of loud-mouths! If they ever went on tour, I'd already have their name… "Shut Up Already!"

The doors opened, and I was now on the twelfth floor. A few sentries were circling around this circle in the center of the entire twelfth floor. Whatever was in there was to be guarded with care. These sentries, although they looked like they meant business, didn't have a business to mean anything. Wait, now I'm confused…

Anyways, I assumed that Tails was in the middle of taking down the power cells corresponding to the computer room, so I'd have to take out these Badniks in the meantime. I snuck over to a corner wall, after one Badniks had rounded the corner. I snatched him from behind, pulled him behind the corner, and threw him into the elevator. I sent a Chaos Spear with him, too. Thank God it was just a robot, right?

I looked around the corner, and saw that the entire hallway up ahead circled around the circular room within the area. It went around the circle and met back where I was. Seeing that the Badniks were patrolling its perimeter, I decided to take 'em all out at once… and I mean "at once"!

I rounded the corner, and walked up to a Badnik's back. I merely tapped it on the shoulder, and it instantly turned his torso around to face me.

"Hello. I am certain death. Today is your lucky day."

I telekinetically grabbed it, slammed it into the ground, with most of the body intact. I then began to race around the circle, using the discombobulated Badnik as a battering ram. Each Badnik I hit didn't know what was coming. I finished them all in 10 seconds. After skidding to a stop, I watched as the pile I'd been driving around the bend began to fall apart and it slowed down. So enjoyable.

I then heard that little "power down" noise. You know, the one that sounds a whistle getting lower and lower in tone. I'd always mimic that when Robotnik's contraptions began falling apart after each encounter. I think he once believed it was happening for real, but during this time, he called it a "distraction from the big picture." But his picture was too big to put in a frame.

Heh. Get it? 'Cause he's fat?

Anyways, Tails had lowered the power to the "computer room", so I then quickly found the sliding doors and entered the room. Inside, I saw this huge screen, dark blue in tone. It had diagrams, graphs, and multiple calculations that I couldn't solve for my life. The floor was shiny white, and there was this chair in the middle. It seemed like an egg, but with some of it cut out for a seat. It was a hover-chair (who didn't see that coming? He truly was the laziest person I've ever known). There was a control pad that was attached to the chair, to give Robotnik multiple keyboards to type with, I guess.

I walked around, trying to find anything of use. But all that seemed to interest me was the main computer. I sat in the "egg-throne", as I've now decided to call it, and brought up some controls. As I scrolled around his computer, I found the "active plans" folder… the same one from the Egg Carrier. I opened it up and found the document titled "Uncle Chuck's Death". I double –clicked, and you won't believe what happened next.

* * *

><p>The flooring below the hover chair fell as I clicked on the document. I began to fall out of the chair and down a long chute. When I landed, I felt this uneven surface, like mechanical flooring… which it turned out to be. When I got up (which felt like an eternity), I looked around to find myself in an even bigger circle of a room, but now red mechanical walls. No entrances, no exits.<p>

"What is this, Robotnik?" I said to myself. "Your dining room?"

But then I heard something else out of the blue.

"Actually, your end." The voice said with a sinister and devious tone.

I was then punched in the back, and was sent into the opposite side of the room. I fell to the ground, huffing and puffing for air.

"That your new armor, Ro-butt-nik?"

"It's not good to snoop around in other people's things, hedgehog. You should know better than that."

"You shouldn't keep things to yourself… especially things meant for others."

"You found the video, hm? Well, now you know why my inventions were built to stop someone with as much speed as you do."

"Yet they've all failed."

"Not this one."

"Is that the armor?"

It was the same kind of armor he had on the first time I went to the Death Egg. Except instead of the yellow colors, it was black with red as the base color. And the head was just a glass dome. Instead of spikes for hands, he had hands formed automatically into fists.

"No. Not even. This is merely the Mark III of my power-assault armor, not the one with emetitus."

"Why not use that instead?"

"After all you've been through, I think you won't take as many hits. Therefore, I don't need to put as much effort into defeating you."

"I'm sorry, Robotnik… well, not really. But this is your last stand… and mine as well."

"Well, I guess see just who is the fastest thing alive, then?"

"Only one person knows who is… and that's my uncle."

Robotnik began to charge at me, as his battle cry filled the room. I closed my eyes to gain control of my senses. My body was in pain due to that punch, but that wasn't stopping me from beating Robotnik to the punch. I began to run, and I jumped as high as I could into the air. I readied my right hand, placing it at my shoulder. I began to yell like Robotnik, too.

This was it. This was, at the moment, my last stand. But something far more sinister was literally lying beneath the sands of this fortress. And I was to be the victim of its literal ascension. You'll know what I mean… when the time comes.

* * *

><p><strong>It feels good to be back!<strong>

**Alright, a few things: 1) I whole-heartedly apologize for not updating this sooner. A lot of viewers have probably moved on from this story, but that's not stopping from finally finishing. 2) When Sonicfangamer2 kept sending me messages (I found them when I finally checked my e-mail just yesterday, July 28th), I realized how much you guys cared for this story. I regret, as I've told Sonicfangamer2, leaving you and the story out to dry. It truly is my fault… and I'm making it up to you. 3) I actually have a lot of time to write now, since I'm done with most of my "summer fun" stuff, anyway. I hope you understand that family was a little more important than this story. Anyways, I'm back and writing, so let's finish this puppy up.**

**This feels like the longest chapter I've ever written in Word (19 pages!). Had I not returned today, I don't think it would've come out the way it did. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was one of my favorites.**

**Will Sonic defeat Robotnik once and for all? What is the secret that lies beneath the sands? And will the time actually come this time? All this and more will be answered, next time… on Dragonball Z!**

**Whoops. Wrong universe.**

**Anyways, I'm back and ready continue. Don't forget to review! Read ya later (Feels so good to say that again).**


	28. An Egg Will Rise

**Act III/ Chapter XXVII: An Egg Will Rise**

Although I had gained a couple upgrades since our last encounter, Robotnik seemed unfazed by some of my new tactics. However, he still remembered older upgrades like the Chaos Spears. Honestly, it was like he was prepared to combat me.

With me in the air, hand close to shoulder, I swung my arm out to produce some Chaos Spears, but Robotnik nearly interfered by swiping me into the right wall (if that exists in a circular room). Although I got slammed into the wall, the Chaos Spears impacted… but didn't really do much; in fact, the plasma blasts didn't even break the glass dome over his controls! I noticed a few dents and scratches, but Robotnik's armor was still intact. I had rolled off the wall and onto the floor by the time he turned to me. I could feel my lip begin to bleed as I rose from the metal-plated floor.

"You sure this ain't the armor?" I asked him.

That thing packed quite enough of a punch to look it.

Robotnik merely smirked.

"If it was," he began, "you wouldn't even want to get up."

"I'm not so sure about that." I replied.

His right arm shape-shifted into a more lethal state: a machine gun turret.

"You will be soon enough." He assured.

The moment the bullets began flying, I hopped to the left with different flips worthy of a gymnast. But even as I made him jealous of my acrobatics, the bullets got closer each hop I made… one even grazed my leg! Out of sheer fear and pain, I swung my hand in whatever direction it was, and Robotnik had crashed into the wall. He didn't see my telekinesis coming… the first time. He quickly adapted the armor to my new capabilities.

I landed on my knees, and fell on one hand. I checked my left leg; it was bleeding. I could feel the warm blood dripping down onto my white sock. It made what looked like a slight cut… but damn, did it hurt! I began to stand, but each step with my left leg became torture. I kept remembering the Metropolis Zone. That run down the hill… how it hurt almost like it did now… only now it was a bullet.

Robotnik forced himself out of his hole in the wall. He held up his gun again, but he wouldn't get even a second to shoot off even one more damn bullet. I heard the turret begin to fire up, but I reacted like a squirrel on crack. I raised my left arm, took hold of the turret and yanked it from its circuitry. I then threw behind me. The egghead wasn't done, though. He made this mega-jump, his fist pulled back in the air. I got flashbacks to the Egg-Carrier on this one. Did he want his bases to come crashing down? Something tells me "yes".

However, I held it back once more, but my telekinesis wasn't strong enough to hold him… I could tell. I threw up some Chaos Spears, but they did little to no damage once more. The arm broke my hold, and crushed me into the floor. I was barely able to breathe under it, but Robotnik wasn't going to bring me down this easily. He drew his dome closer to his mech arm. I was struggling to use my abilities from underneath the robot's strength. Blood had begun to spill more from my lip, and my legs felt crushed. Nothing was gonna get me out of this one.

"What are you even fighting for, hedgehog?" the doctor asked me.

"All the people…" I began to cough, "…that we've lost."

"And why did you lose them?"

"Because you thought… that by destroying our force… you'd take away our resolve. Well, I can tell you… that's not happening."

"But will it last?"

I became silent.

"Not only that, but who says I did the worst? From what I can tell… it's all your fault."

I became enraged. But my struggles were met with more pressure.

"You took Omega's life and let him fall into Grand Metropolis's abyss. You… *ahem* 'accidentally' killed Fang. You failed to save Bark, and you let Silver die instead of you. You're the real murderer."

I growled. I could feel the fist press harder and harder, and I could feel the blood rush from my leg.

"But at least when I'm done, you and your rebellious friends won't even exist. You'll all be my robotic slaves, willing to do my bidding until disposed of."

I finally got the courage to speak.

"They all sacrificed their lives for our cause. Omega was becoming rusty hardware. He couldn't us from the real enemy. Fang became free from your control after he died. Bark refused to let us help him, and I tried to save Silver… but…"

"You weren't fast enough."

Damn. That was a low blow, right there.

"I guess we've settled the bet." He finished.

"Not yet." I replied.

"But..." he began, raising his fist and readying his foot for a final stomp, "…there can only be one."

And that's when time slowed down for me (when did it not?). The foot came sailing down, but I remembered that I had one trick up my sleeve. I noticed that Shadow's ring had been crushed along with Silver's ring. In fact, all of my upgrades went down with them. But I remembered what I had brought with me… something that Tails had been working on since the very beginning. I reached behind me, popped my backpack's flap, and reached inside. At the last second, I pulled out Tails's armor ray… the one that could dismantle robotic armors in 2 seconds tops. I pulled the trigger as soon as the foot merely tapped the ray.

Robotnik's armor not only blew apart, but it exploded! The smoke covered the whole area. I began to stand up, but I began to feel weaker… much weaker. My legs began to feel a form of shock. My arms were nearly dead. The blood had rushed to my head, and now I was left with this dizzying headache. I began to limp away from the smoke. Once I had clearer vision, I fell to my knees and hands. My body was falling apart. I was just now regaining the blood flow to my body. After a few seconds, I began to just laugh.

It was over. It was finally over. There was no way I'd come back from this the same way I started. But now I was ready for a new day. I was prepared to finally start a new life. With smoke just beginning to settle and my legs beginning to feel slightly better, I began to wonder how I'd get out of here.

"Don't leave so soon."

My body went rigid, and I felt this sort of nervousness you get when a spider crawls on you. I began to turn my head, now wondering who spoke to me… but I kinda knew who it was.

"How'd you live?" I asked, stricken with fear.

"I had a small friend to help me out."

I now faced the smoke, and I could see a small-armored figure beginning to emerge. Once in the light, I couldn't believe what I saw… it was Robotnik, but now in his new "emetitus" suit.

"You did make the suit."

"Behind a door could be another door."

I snatched Tails's ray again, and pulled the trigger. The blast shot out into the walls of the room. Robotnik was still standing. Might I mention that this suit fit Robotnik's body completely? It was white with black beneath the plates. Robotnik's head poked up from its torso. For once, he didn't look like a bald, fat, and hungry scientist. He finally seemed like a villain.

"What the hell?" I asked in shock.

"Let's break the ice! Or shall I say…"

He reeled back his punch, but it hit me in the same instant.

"...the sound barrier!"

I went flying through the wall, and ended up in this long chute that dropped several floors. I forgot that Robotnik's "emetitus" suit could break the sound barrier with every punch. I heard him use his hover boots to fly out through the hole, and felt him bring both of his hands down on my back. I went down the chute and straight into the ground.

I was beginning to lose consciousness. Honestly, sleep sounded like a good idea right about now. I heard Robotnik land behind me, and I knew this was the end. And that's when I blacked out.

* * *

><p>"Sonic!" Amy shouted from the rafters.<p>

We had now been sneaking around the rafters for some time now. Only seconds, we initiated the self-destruct sequence for the base. We were searching for a safe way down, and the rafters seemed like the best bet. We had four minutes 'till all hell would break loose. But Amy noticed something before us: Sonic, having crashed into the ground, beginning to fall unconscious.

"Robotnik!" Knuckles shouted, as the rather-plump mad man, now decked out in a suit of rather impervious-looking armor, lowered himself next to my big bro.

"What are we gonna do?" Amy asked us.

Sonic now stopped moving, and the doctor was readying his foot for a good stomp. But he was instantly caught off balance by a wrench, thrown by yours truly.

Amy, Knuckles, and I landed rather stylishly before Sonic and Robotnik.

"You're not touching him again." I intimidated… or, at least, I tried.

"Sorry, Miles," Robotnik replied, deliberately insulting me, "but I'm afraid you can't stop me, even with the self-destruct… or your wrench."

"Nobody…" I began in rage, "…calls me…"

His right arm unfolded and produced a turret laser. My pride fell.

"…Miles."

This wasn't looking good. Sonic was out, Robotnik was now a man with a good plan, and we couldn't even beat him by ourselves. But then I heard a door to our right open.

"Sorry to break it to ya…" Jet began, running in with hoverboard in hand, "…but you may need to reconsider your efforts."

Wave and Storm ran in behind him. Wave picked up my wrench and tossed to me. She nodded, as a form of saying "you're welcome". I nodded back in response.

"As you can see…" Wave began, switching her eyes over to Ro-butt-nik (Heh. I'm turning into him. Oh, god.)

A door to our left opened, and Rouge a great battalion of Mobian soldiers stormed in, weapons at the ready.

"…you're outnumbered." Rouge finished.

Robotnik surveyed the room. We definitely could at least make an effort to fight him, but something told me he would get the last laugh.

"You're only making sure that I win. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to let an egg rise."

I thought he meant him flying up through ceiling chute and out of the base, but he meant something far worse.

After he rocketed out, Amy, Knuckles, the Babylon Rogues, Rouge, and I all ran over to the damaged hedgehog. The soldiers had fired at Robotnik as he left, but Rouge told them it wasn't worth it. She ordered them to retreat and evacuate the remaining forces outside the fortress.

He looked completely destroyed. His left leg was bleeding profusely, and half of his leg was now painted red. His lower lip was bleeding out as well. He had lost all of his equipment, and (probably worst of all), the backpack Sally had given him for his birthday… was destroyed. We couldn't wake him up.

"We have to get him out of here!" I said.

"We can't!" Jet said. "He'll slow us down!"

"Did you just say…" Amy began, going off on another tangent, "…that Sonic the Hedgehog, the FASTEST THING ALIVE, will slow us down?"

Jet had lost this one. Amy began going off on him and his behavior.

"AMY!" Knuckles shouted.

She quickly stopped.

"There has to be a way to get him out!" Amy said.

"I'll carry him." Knuckles replied. We all seemed to agree with that… except for Jet and the Rogues.

"You think he's worth a life?" Jet asked. "What has he done for us?"

"This is why you're in prison." Knuckles stated.

"At least it's not an isolated island."

Knuckles began to become enraged.

"Knuckles?" Rouge asked, trying to calm his nerves, "Focus on Sonic."

"You have no idea what you got yourself into." Knuckles growled at Jet.

"This is no time for quarreling! We need to leave!"

"Come here, bird-brain!" Knuckles said, standing up.

He began to walk over, but was then pulled back. When he turned around, Rouge met him halfway. I… didn't get the specifics… mainly because I turned my head away when it happened. My guess… it was a pretty good kiss.

"Can you get 'Blue' out of here?" she asked him.

Knuckles tilted his head slightly and nodded.

"Y-y-yes, ma'am!" he stuttered.

He instantly picked up Sonic, and waited for our plan of escape.

"Everyone, get as far away from here as you possibly can!" I ordered. "Move, move, move!"

The Rogues hopped on their boards and zoomed out their door. Knuckles, Amy, and I, along with Sonic's resting body, began to follow Rouge through her exit. We hurried as fast as we could. I checked the timer for the self-destruct: only two and a half minutes left. We had to move. We quickly raced to the landing deck, to retrieve the Tornado-III.

* * *

><p>Due to the fact that I installed only one new seat in, Sonic had to share space with Amy for this ride (why would I leave on the top of the plane?). We flew out from the landing deck, and I quickly surveyed the ground below. The Badniks, although they were few, were chasing the few remaining soldiers and Rouge as they boarded their aircraft and quickly retreated from the site.<p>

I looked at the timer: five seconds. We were now at a safe distance, so we all looked back at what we believed to be the greatest Robotnik base explosion ever.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BOOM?

The fortress didn't blew up. It fell apart, but it never blew up. I could tell that Knuckles was expecting an explosion. In all honesty, I was, too.

But now I wondered what Robotnik meant by "let an egg rise," and why we were "making sure he'd win". I was baffled as to how he would win, with his fortress gone and all… but I just had to jinx it.

Suddenly, the sand began flowing in under the fortress. The buildings were all falling into something. And then the bits began to rise. They were rising, but then they slid off… they slid off of something much bigger then the fortress was. The top of a sphere was showing as the pieces fell. I could see its mechanical and technological texture. It rose up more, and I saw to circular indents, then a point that curved off from the face, almost like… a nose. Then this huge bar… which looked like a moustache… had come into view. I couldn't believe it.

Robotnik had made the Death Mark III. Never before had it looked this intimidating. And now I knew things just got real.

We believed Robotnik would expect us all to reconvene at my workshop, so me and the other team leaders decided to make our way to a different location to prepare ourselves: Angel Island. We flew away to our final safe haven, as the egg-shaped dreadnought rose into the skies.

* * *

><p><strong>Two things: 1) that was the first time we've switched to another character's point of view, and 2) the Death Egg is intimidating in mere words. And that's saying something.<strong>

**Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed Chapter XXVII. It may seem short, but this seemed like a great place to stop. Don't you just love cliffhangers? Did you think that fight against Robotnik at the beginning was the final one? Be honest! I hope you guys enjoyed a little cameo of Tails as the narrator here. Don't worry; Sonic will be back for the next chapter. Speaking of which, I think we'll probably have maybe three to four chapters. I haven't planned out what I'll write for them yet, but I'm merely estimating how long this story will take to end.**

**So now we enter the last few chapters. You guys excited? I know I am! Let's do it to it, as they say! Let's see what Sonic will bring us in the final battle of Book I! Don't forget to review! Read ya later!**


	29. To Stop Running

**Act III/ Chapter XXVIII: To Stop Running**

I awoke in a patch of grass. I thought I had died for a moment. But I heard people speaking close by, and someone was standing over me. Picking my head up after regaining eye focus, I saw Tails and Amy, both sitting by my side.

"You're awake!" Tails stated.

Amy hugged me as I sat up a bit more. However, my injuries were a lot more severe than I thought. My left leg felt slightly numb, my arms were weak, and my body still held the pressure of Robotnik's robot-suit fist.

I winced as Amy hugged me softly. SOFTLY. You know there's something going down if you can't be hugged softly. It even hurt to pick my head. I had a bad feeling about this.

"What'd I… miss?" I asked, as Amy let go of me.

Tails and Amy exchanged looks.

"Well, we all got out." Tails explained. Rouge made it. The Rogues made it. I even went back to pick up the Chaotix."

"And Omochao?"

"He's been tracking your progress ever since he arrived."

"Progress?"

Amy then cut in, "Tails gave you a sedative. He realized how bad your injuries were. When we were setting you down here, we could hear you wincing in your sleep. The sedative will help get you to fighting strength."

"Well, ain't that convenient?"

"Not exactly." Tails said. "You see, the sedative will bring you back to your feet, but it takes some time to take the whole effect. And even when it does, it only lasts for an hour afterwards."

"Not as convenient."

"Sonic," Amy said. "You're the fastest thing alive. You can take out Robotnik in no time flat!"

"Amy, did you see what Robotnik did to him back there?" Tails asked.

He was surprised she hadn't noticed.

"He's right." I stated further. "If I try to go up against him and his suit, I won't make it, even with the sedative."

"What are you gonna do, then?" she asked.

"We have the Chaos Emeralds." Tails pointed out.

"We only have six. Old Ro-butt-nik probably has the last one."

Amy turned to Tails with an inquisitive expression.

"Could it be on the Death Egg?" she asked.

"Wait, what?" I began, confused on the subject.

Tails ended up explaining that happened to them while I was out: how they gathered the room I had fallen in, how the Death Egg rose, and how the team got in a few close fights. He even mentioned a kiss from Rouge to Knux. Sounds like a typical encounter for them.

"What's he using the damn egg for now?" I asked.

"We… don't know." Tails answered. "Not for certain. Whatever he has planned is on a global scale."

"Why's that?"

"Why else would he make another Death Egg? The last time he made one, it was bred for world domination. And I think this one is bigger than the last one."

"Well, that's just perfect. He had to push how he'd go."

"Now you have to push how far you'll go."

"Now, don't you go all cliché on me."

"How long 'till the sedative takes effect?" Amy asked.

"Maybe a few more hours." Tails replied.

"That's enough for Robotnik to blow up Mobius. We need to get up there. There's no telling when he'll make his move."

"Or how." Tails added.

I turned my head around to look at the Death Egg's shape, lifting off into the atmosphere. I could make out all the recognizable features. It hurt turning around, just as much as it hurt to look at that thing rise one more time.

And I was determined to leave it at one more time.

* * *

><p>For the duration of time for the sedative to take effect, Tails led me to Knuckles. He assured that the sedative would work.<p>

"Its recipe goes back many generations. It's cured many over time, so it should work on you."

Considering that there weren't many foods like chili dogs back then, whatever sedative went down the hatch probably tasted like Dayquil… and don't even get me started on that.

Knuckles led me to the room where he had shown me the prophetic drawings several days before. He had set up a bed near the end of it, with a well-lit torch, a pillow, and a nice blanket. It felt homey, and extremely comfy… especially with the blanket.

"You have a good taste in beddings, Knux." I stated. "I didn't know you went shopping on South Island, too."

"I didn't buy that." Knuckles explained. "My mother made it."

"You never told me about her."

"My father barely ever told me of her. All he said was that she was the most beautiful woman he had seen in his life. He still kept the wedding necklace… never remarried. He lived a troubled life afterwards. But, to let me feel like I still had a mother, he gave me that blanket. She sewed it herself. She apparently loved the color blue. My father always teared up when he saw me in it. He said that I reminded him of her… especially in the eyes."

"Do you wish you could see her again?"

"I never saw her… not even a picture."

"If you could wish for her to come back to you… would you?"

"She left my father in this distressed state. It troubled me. I would love for her to come back to me."

Knuckles, you're lucky to have known at least one of your parents. Me… I don't remember them."

"At least you had Uncle Chuck."

"Yeah, but for two years."

"I had my father for five."

"You know more about family than I do."

"But yours gave you a clear and simple purpose."

_Do what you have to do,_ I thought to myself.

Knuckles wanted me to rest up, so he shoke my hand and was beginning to leave. However, he seemed about as troubled as I was. I pulled his arm back and, as he came back, I hugged him. This may seem weird, but Knuckles, after this whole adventure, began to feel more like family than I could imagine. He deserved better from his father, and he deserved to see his mother. For that, I envied him. He hugged me back, and I could hear him crying on my shoulder.

"It's okay, Knux. They'll always be there, watching you from above."

"You think so?" Knuckles said, as we relinquished our hug.

"You bet your ass!" I told him.

He chuckled a little, patted me on the shoulder, and left. Once he left, I sat in the bed and pulled the blanket over me. The sedative must've been doing some work, because my injuries began to feel less severe… though it still hurt like hell.

His mom had craftsmanship. I'll give her that.

* * *

><p>Over the course of those next few hours, as my body began to heal, people began to come in and talk to me. Everyone wanted to talk to me, considering this was our last stand. First were the Chaotix and Omochao.<p>

"Are you okay, Sonic?" Charmy asked me.

"Of course not, Charmy!" Vector shouted. "Why would he be okay if he was bleeding from the leg and losing consciousness?"

They could move floating islands with that one.

"Vector," I interrupted. "There's no need to yell at him!"

"He asked a dumb question!" Vector argued.

"There are dumb questions…" Omochao stated, "… only answers."

"He has a point." Espio put subtly.

Vector only grumbled in response.

"Are you okay?" Charmy asked again.

"A sedative is helping me get back on my feet. It takes time, though, so I have to rest for a bit before it works."

Charmy stared at me for a moment.

"What's a… se-date-if?"

I chuckled and shoke my head in response. I saw where Vector was coming from, but Charmy only reminded me of Tails.

"How are things, Vector?" I asked.

"Everyone's waiting for you. We've just been talkin' about how much time we have left."

"I'll be up there and done in no time."

"If I were you, I'd go right now." Espio said.

"And let myself die with one punch? If I don't rest, I'm just walking with death."

"Just do it. You can still fight."

"Not as a corpse. I can do much more healed up… and with the Chaos Emeralds."

"Ah, another predicament where you must rely on the supernatural to aid your cause. Ninjas rely on pure skill. Why has it become so easy to fight evil?"

"Trust me, Espio. It's not easy… in the slightest!"

The Chaotix left, but Omochao stayed behind.

"How you doing, little guy?"

"All systems online and fully functional, doctor."

"How am I?"

"Only 2 hours and 15 minutes 'till the sedative takes full effect."

"What a relief. You think we'll win?"

"There is a 30% probability that we w-."

"Omochao, enough with the probabilities and the 'facts'. This fight is all about pure will. I need you to tell me if you think we'll win."

"Repeating statement…"

"No! Omochao! Ugh. Look, I know you're a robot. I know that the doc… I mean, that 'I' designed you to give reports and be all-around annoying to others. But you have to look past your programming… and find out who you really are. Dig deep, and tell me your honest opinion… will we win?"

Omochao stood on the bed's small nightstand, just under the torch.

"I… I…"

I ached to hear what Omochao really thought.

"I think… someone probably won't be coming back."

"What?"

"I'm afraid that one person on this island won't survive these last few hours."

"How could they? I'm the only one going up?"

"Who's to say no one will try to come with you?"

"Come on, Omochao. I know they're devoted to the cause of this planet, but not to me!"

"They're not talking about how long we have… they're talking about long you have."

I was speechless.

"If the sedative wears off before you get the seventh emerald…"

I lay back on the pillow.

"I'll be good as dead."

Omochao turned away.

"But that's if the sedative wears off… right?"

"Yes, but with your enemy running around up there, you never know when you'll be back where you started."

Omochao left after a few seconds. I lay on the bed, wondering about my chances. How long would it take for me to bring Robotnik… especially with that suit? I was beginning to doubt myself again. Remember when I said that death was only plausible because I was still around?

Well, what if I wasn't?

* * *

><p>After a while, Amy walked in.<p>

"Omochao says you have an hour before the sedative works full-time." She told me

I continued to stare at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm beginning to doubt myself."

She kneeled down next to my bed.

"Why?"

"Amy… have you ever doubted science?"

"Well, the sedative seems to be working, so…"

"But what if it wears off? What if I can't get the seventh emerald before it's gone? I'll be dead."

"Don't say that!"

"But it's still out there. It's like a spider in the toilet. You know he won't make it, but he's still there, trying to crawl out."

"But then you flush."

I scuffed.

"Well, it's a spider."

Amy rolled her eyes.

"Sonic, what makes you think like this? First, you doubt your purpose. Now, you're doubting your time alive. What makes you do this?"

"I guess… that… stuff like this brings out this side of me… that just… can't take it."

"You can't doubt yourself. That's the last thing you need."

"Well, if that's not it, then… I guess I'm just afraid I won't be coming back in one piece."

"Well, if that's the case, we should get a jumpstart on some things."

I stared into her eyes… her precious green eyes.

"Like what?"

"If you don't have your legs when you come back," she explained as she stood up, holding my hands, "you won't be able to dance."

I remembered our promise: when I defeated Robotnik, I'd let her teach me to dance.

"No, I can't."

"What did you just say? Sonic, you've taken down seven deadly evils in your lifetime. You've confronted mystery after mystery. You've gained allies and enemies. The bonds that hold us all together grow stronger… because of you. I think you can handle some dance lessons."

"Well, you are a good dancer."

"And, for a fifteen-year old girl, that's saying something."

She taught me all of the basic moves. It felt so extraordinary when I held her in my arms as we stared deeply into each others eyes afterwards. We kept going in circles, and so slowly. It felt weird to not be dancing fast, and to just calmly step with your partner. It felt awkward, but gratifying at the same time. It wasn't because it was new to me… it was more because I could do it with Amy in my arms. She placed her head over my shoulder, and I tilted my head onto hers. She hugged me as I did. We kept rotating in silence. We heard nothing, which, to me, is the sweet sound of true love.

But like with my first kiss with Amy, I felt this adrenaline within me, a kind that made me calm my nerves. And now I truly knew what it meant to be everyone else. I could feel myself becoming one with nature, and I slowly realized a certain truth.

I had finally stopped running.

* * *

><p><strong>This might be one of my favorite chapters of this entire book… for obvious or not so obvious reasons. I hope you enjoyed this calm before the storm. Things are about to get real, and Sonic has tied up some loose ends, and he is nearly ready to make his last stand against the dastardly Robotnik.<strong>

**I just realized how much Sonic is beginning to curse. Please let me know if that disturbs you. Also, tell what you thought of the conversations. And, finally, tell me what you think will happen in the end. What do you think will happen to Sonic and the others? Tell me your honest opinion. I just want to hear what you would've told Sonic in terms of victory. If you have multiple, that's fine. By the way, how do you write "29" and "30" in Roman numerals? Is it "XXIX" and "XXX", or something else entirely?**

**We'll soon be out of the frying pan, and into the fire! Some action is coming our way, and I can't wait! In fact, I'll be listening to some epic music to get me pumped for the finale! You guys ready, 'cause I sure as hell am! Let's do it to it! Don't forget to review! Read ya later!**


	30. Let's Do It To It

**Act III/ Chapter XXIX: Let's Do It To It**

15 minutes 'till the sedative would take a full effect on me, and I decided to head outside. If we were gonna win this thing, we would have to act fast. We had to take advantage of the hour I had to be strengthened. If it went to waste… well, I still had some doubts in my mind, let's put it that way.

When I walked out of the cave, people turned around to see me. They became pretty excited to see that I had nearly recovered. The Chaotix started following me as I went to talk to Tails. Everyone began to join in as I went. It felt great to be loved by so many. I guess Amy was right about our bonds.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. "How're you feeling?"

"Almost there. Just a few more minutes and I should be good. What's up?"

Tails looked down at the table before him. He had this big diagram of the exterior of the Death Egg (at least what he could make out). He had multiple ideas for getting inside, but he said the others were nothing compared to the one they all agreed on.

"The Death Eggs before this one, along with the current one, had a teleport field around them." Tails explained. "Robotnik had said in one of his old reports, which I salvaged on the way to the power cell level, that his teleporter was always a bit finicky. However, in a later entry, he stated that the field had been corrected. That entry was two years ago, one year after we took down his second Death Egg."

"So what's the idea?" I asked.

"Well, you'd have to get close enough to the Death Egg's field to be able to telelport inside. From there, Robotnik most likely won't be expecting you."

"That's nice and all, but how will I even use the damn thing? Unless there's some button floating around, I don't know how I'll do this."

"I have a trigger on my communicator that I've developed with Omochao. It should interpret the teleporter's signal, and send us in there."

"Us? I'm the one going up there."

"Sonic," Amy cut in, "Tails is coming with you."

"Wait, what?"

I didn't know anything about this.

"We all know that Robotnik will have a trick up his sleeve, even if he is brought down." Tails explained. "Things may get technical, so I've decided that the best way to finish this is with some brains and some brawn."

"No." I said.

"Huh?"

"No, Tails. You're not going with me. A lot of people have died this week, and I'm not letting you join them."

I turned my attention to everyone.

"I've risked all of your lives just leading you into this mess. I'm sorry. I've screwed up all of your lives by bringing you out here. So I'll let you take the high road and forget about this."

"There's not much to forget, Sonic." Amy replied. "And why would we forget?"

I was confused.

"You saved me from a pit of lava." She explained.

Espio chimed in.

"You helped us come to terms with Mighty's passing."

"You let us redeem ourselves." The Rogues said to me.

Tails had said that they were extremely argumentative before, but he had talked some sense into them, and I guess they realized the gratitude of the situation.

I turned to Knuckles.

"You saved my island… and brought me back to her."

He was looking at Rouge. They made a good couple. They were both jewel thieves, fighters, and, honestly, quite romantic for loners. I guess that works out.

"You aided me in surviving the obtrusive destruction of the Egg Carrier Mk. III." Omochao said.

I finally turned to Tails.

"And you've been there for me. Always. It's time I did the same."

I could feel tears getting tangled up inside me, but I held them back. The last thing I needed was to look like I had balled my eyes out in front of Robotnik. I lowered my head to the table.

"God damn, you guys tug at the heartstrings." I said.

Everyone chuckled… even Rouge and Espio.

"Well…" I began, raising my head and turning to face my lil' bro, "alright, then, Tails."

I reached out with my fist, and he reached out with his. I went up, he went down. We then switched directions, bumping our fists together. Once done with that first bump, we'd switch directions again for the second bump. We then would have our fists collide, all while we said,

"Let's do it to it!"

Amy might as well have been right about everything.

* * *

><p>Tails told me that I couldn't really get anywhere near the Death Egg without a plane, and he knew I wasn't good at flying anything. We all know why. He told me that once we were within the teleport field, he'd grab my hand, trigger the teleport, and we'd both be sent into the Death Egg. Seemed quite simple.<p>

He started up the engine, and we then began to wave goodbye to the others. They treated it like we were going for a vacation, but, deep down, they knew what we had to do. I could tell fate wanted us to believe that we would lose, but my uncle had confronted the same problem, and he felt differently about it. And so did I. I was going to do what my uncle had always been doing: defying fate.

Tails and I took off. He handed a small sling backpack. It wasn't my SatAm backpack, but it would do (that backpack was shredded, anyway). When I opened it up, I saw the six Chaos Emeralds we had collected.

"You think Robotnik has the last one?" I asked.

"Why would he be this confident in himself if he didn't?"

I nodded in agreement. I looked up at the Death Egg. It was close to touching the exterior of our atmosphere. This thing moved as slow as Robotnik himself… which I guess was a good thing.

We began to get close, and Tails told me it was almost time.

"What about the Tornado-III?"

"Sonic, I think this plane has served its time, if you know what I mean."

"So, what? Are you just gonna let it crash and burn?"

"Where we're going, we won't need planes."

And so I reluctantly agreed to those terms. I became attached to this plane. It had gotten me out of places through thick and thin. Once I saw the boosters on it, I knew I'd enjoy the first ride. It was the perfect aircraft to have with you. It could even barrel roll like no tomorrow! I couldn't believe Tails was gonna let the damn thing just ram into the Death Egg and wither away. Sad, but Tails knew that there was only one way up and one way in.

Tails grabbed a hold of my arm and hopped onto the top wing of the plane, where I was standing. We were in the field… and getting close to the Death Egg's exterior.

"Here goes nothing!" Tails said with a sense of doubt.

"See you on the other side!" I said in return.

As we closed in on the Death Egg, the atmosphere was getting thinner and thinner. When Tails pushed that button, I hoped to God that the Death Egg was gonna have some god damn oxygen. I felt my body warp in shape, and I teleported, with Tails by my side. We were ready to face the unknown.

Or at least we thought we were.

* * *

><p>I felt myself warp back to normal, and we were in this dark hallway. I could barely see anything. As I felt around, I began knocking on the material on the walls and floor. They both sounded like Robotnik's "emetitus" armor when it hit something. This Death Egg was made with "emetitus".<p>

"So now his ship is impenetrable?" Tails asked. "What does he think will hit him… a nuke?"

"Why would he make his ship impenetrable, though?" I asked.

But then I heard something mechanical lower itself to my ear.

"So that you'll never get out." The voice whispered.

I was then kicked with stupendous force. I smashed through… three walls, I think, and ended up in this huge chamber. It felt like a mile in size, but it was roughly the width of the average apartment building. Things feel bigger when lying on the ground.

I heard Tails get kicked in, too. I heard this kind squeal like a dog getting hurt mixed with his voice. It sounded so horrible… so torturous in its wake. Tails landed a few feet away from me. He actually landed near this console in the center of the chamber. I was near this little... pulsating, green light, which was way in the back of the room, which looked circular, almost like the arena in the doc's castle base. Except it was so high…

"What's that, doc?" I asked jokingly. "Your sad attempt at a strobe light?"

I heard him fly in, and he kicked aside. I was feeling weaker already. Twenty seconds on this damn dreadnought, and I already was losing strength. Lovely.

"It is my newest creation. This new invention of mine shall live up to the likes of greater inventions such as the Roboticizer."

"Didn't I already take that out?"

"Of course, but I've made an even more efficient method to fulfill Mobius's destiny."

"More like a nightmare." I heard Tails say from a far.

"You Mobians don't know what this world truly needs, do you? You're just like Charles! You'll never comprehend that the only to survive is with order. The only way to have order is to be equal and the same."

To be honest, I was actually considering this.

"All Mobians want is world peace, and I wanted that, too. But the only way any of us will make peace is if everyone is equal. If everyone doesn't quarrel over anything, then we could live in a society of peaceful minded creatures who only do what they're told to do."

"But you're taking away their freedom." Tails remarked.

"Look at what freedom has brought us! It's brought us to war with other countries, and we've signed countless peace treaties only to disobey them by the use of our free will! If we go through with this, then we all won't need to worry about planetary conflict. All we'd need is something to be ordered to do."

"If everyone's a robot," I began, "and they all need orders, they'll never get them. They'll wonder why, and then the riots will start!"

"These are synthetics we're talking about, not organics! They'll never wonder why! They only wonder what!"

"Omochao wonders why!"

"Well, he's just an annoying pest with nothing better to do than give reports and be annoying to others! But this will ensure that we all will live a peaceful life, and I'll be there to ensure that it works!"

"No free will, so they'll need orders." I stated. "And they would just have to be ordered around by the guy who made them lose their free will in the first place? You're not saving them; you're just bringing power to yourself!"

"See it as you will. This truly is the final evolution of life! This is the only way to salvation!"

"No, it's the only way to damnation!" I yelled.

I got up, and began to charge towards him like I had nothing left. But I had something that he needed to ensure this thing would work. He grabbed me by my neck, and I could barely breathe. He held me up, and he noticed my sling backpack.

"What do we have here?" he asked.

He grabbed hold of my sling, pulled it off, and threw me to his right. I began to try and regain my breath.

"The Chaos Emeralds! The last six! Just what I needed!"

I looked at him to this wall to the machine. There were seven sockets, each labeled a different color. One emerald was already in there. He began to place the Emeralds in their specific slots.

"What is… *cough*… that… *cough*… thing, anyway?" I asked, still trying to regain my focus.

Tails was still sitting by the control panel, and Robotnik was still at the panel. I was the monkey in the middle.

"A cannon." Robotnik explained. "Once it fires, all organic life on Mobius will become extinct, and the synthetics will be all that remain in the aftermath. From there, I will order them to build my new planetary empire, Robotropolis. It will finally come to be!"

"That's… *cough*… not… *cough*… gonna happen."

"Just you wait and see."

I looked back at Tails, and he had his wrench with him. Sure, it wouldn't do a damn thing to his armor, but it'd sure be a distraction. Robotnik had fitted in the last Emerald when Tails pulled out the wrench.

"Now it just needs to power up."

Clang! The wrench hit him in the back.

"You want a piece of this, fox boy?" Robotnik asked with a growl in his tone.

"B-b-bring it o-o-on!" Tails stuttered.

I could see his tails between his legs.

Robotnik began walking over to him, and Tails began to run to an open gateway. He kicked back over to the panel. Bad move.

"Out of my way, you damn rodent!"

I watched Tails as he ran for a way out. But Robotnik hit a switch on the center console, and disabled it afterwards. We couldn't turn it back. All kinds of "emetitus"-made walls came down from the ceiling. They enclosed the whole in the impenetrable mineral. Now, with the switch broken and unusable, we couldn't get out of here. Not without a special trick which would (hopefully) work.

I switched my eyes over to the panel with each Emerald. I assumed that, in order to power up the cannon, the Emeralds had to be drained of their power. I wanted to ensure that wouldn't happen. I kicked the panel, and the Emeralds easily fell out of their slots. I felt Robotnik's cold and dastardly gaze set his eyes upon me. But I could feel this sinister feeling inside of him just beginning to brew.

"It's no use! The cannon only needs a smidgeon of each Emerald's power to fire! Only seven more minutes, and it'll be show-time!"

I couldn't believe it! Mobius was doomed no matter what! But I had to make this trip worth something, just like my venture to find Amy in the Metropolis Zone. It had to be worth something. If the world was to be roboticized, then it'd be best if they didn't have a tyrant as a ruler. I wanted to ensure that evil had been demolished. And with all seven Emeralds by my side for one last time…

I felt this surge of adrenaline, but not the feeling I got with Amy. Instead, it was this surge of Chaos energy. I could remember what Tikal, the mystical echidna of the past, had said about Chaos:

"_The servers are the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one who unifies the Chaos."_

But as I felt the Chaos Emeralds energy begin to pass into me, I could feel a greater presence close by. We must've still been exiting the atmosphere, because I could the energy of the Master Emerald from up there. And I remembered what happened when the energy of the Chaos Emeralds was merged with wisdom of the Master Emeralds. I saw the Chaos shine and grow larger than they were before. As they grew in size, they grew in power as well. I hadn't done this since the "Doomsday Chase", but I felt that it was worth a shot… to bring Robotnik down with the most powerful super form I could muster…

* * *

><p>Tails was flying around, but was having trouble staying up high. Besides, Robotnik was too fast for him. He snatched him out of the air, and he began to squeeze Tails to death. I could hear him crying, and that dog squeal came back. It was time to put an end to this torture.<p>

A sudden shine overwhelmed Robotnik, who, after a few seconds, tossed Tails to the side. My lil' bro was still trying to catch his breath, but he was able to say these words as he looked at my last location:

"He promised he wouldn't…"

The shine got incredibly that even I was overwhelmed by it. The shine dimmed, and Robotnik and Tails both saw the same thing, but with different mindsets. To put it my way: they saw a form that hadn't been touched for three years. It was a form that combined the effects of the Chaos Emeralds, which had now become Super Emeralds, onto a single individual. This, in turn, when combined with me, created the highest form of power I ever wielded in my entire life… besides one other one.

I was Hyper Sonic, who shined silver, with the aura of all seven Emeralds surrounding him. Tails was in awe. He knew I had a chance to win. Hyper Sonic couldn't get through the toughest mineral in the world ("emetitus"), but he could surely take down this fat man. Robotnik only grinned.

"You think that's gonna stop me? I'll destroy you, no matter what color you are!"

I looked up at him, and spoke with my voice; my voice echoed when I went Hyper.

"You'll have to catch me first."

And so the final battle for Mobius began.

* * *

><p><strong>The final countdown! We've made it, guys. We are now at the finale, and not a moment too soon. This actually might've been my favorite chapter of the book! You hear Robotnik's plan, Sonic tried to reason with him, the plan is now in effect, and Hyper Sonic is ready to kick some major ass! Oh, and just so you know, when the doc said "Charles", that's really Uncle Chuck.<strong>

**This is gonna be good. I'm overly excited. In fact, I'm so excited that once this chapter is uploaded, I'll listen to some epic music for an hour or so, and then write what will be the… drum roll, please… the FINAL chapter to the first book of Broken Dreams. It will probably be the longest chapter of the whole book, so fasten your seatbelts when you see it in the chapter list.**

**Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the book, and I hope you all join me for the finale! This has to be one of the greatest days of my entire life, and I ensure myself to celebrate once the book is finally complete! But, without further ado, please don't forget to review, and I'll see you in the finale! Read ya later!**


	31. Defying Fate

**Act III/ Chapter 30: Defying Fate**

If there was one thing I knew how to fly, it was any one of my super forms.

Robotnik rocketed full throttle to me, hell bent on taking me down. Once he stopped in front of me, he took his first swing. However, this was instantly blocked by the swift movement of only one of my arms. I raised it, made it bounce back, and reeled up a punch that shot him clean across the chamber. I flew to him was ready him through the wall, but he flew up and out of the way before I reached him directly. I instead stomped on the wall.

It was weird, because when I stomped on the wall, I expected to fall straight, but then I remembered: the entire station was made out of "emetitus", the same impenetrable material that Robotnik used for his armor. I also remembered I was stuck in here. If I couldn't break the walls as Hyper Sonic, then how could I get out of there at all? However, I noticed a small detail that could help me defeat Robotnik and his robotic armor.

When I stomped on it, I felt the sound reverb off of the wall itself, and it vibrated a little bit. It would never be broken or moved, but it certainly made vibrations that could cause hundreds of migraines. And since Robotnik was pretty much encased in the damn stuff…

He was right above me. He rocketed downwards. But I backed up so he'd hit the floor. However, he planted both of his palms on the ground, sprang off of them, and kicked me in the face. If I know one about Hyper Sonic, it's that he can a take hit going faster than the speed of sound. That helped.

I flipped back, and hovered over the floor.

"Let's kick it up a notch!" I suggested.

I flew into him and boosted upwards. He kicked out, but that didn't stop me from ramming him into the ceiling. As I had predicted, his armor began to rattle like a baby was holding it. He seemed dizzy, so I closed in. I threw one punch, but he somehow dodged. I threw another, which hit his arm. I swung around and delivered a roundhouse kick, sending him into the left wall. As he began to recover, I readied a special Hyper Sonic ability.

Super Sonic was not a capable enough form to harness the power of light into a focused beam. Hyper Sonic was basically the embodiment of light AND the rainbow. I'm not joking. People thought they saw a rainbow falling from the sky after the "Doomsday Chase". I heard one guy had a seizure just looking at it… and I so apologize.

I pressed both my hands together, opened them up, and shot a beam of light at the egg-menace. He quickly jumped from the wall, and I once again hit the wall instead. Not even a scratch on the stuff. Not even light could penetrate "emetitus". This was a dark day indeed.

Robotnik tackled me, but I shot him off with my light. He flew back a meter or two after that.

"Give up now, Robotnik! You won't win!"

"You only have about… mmm, five and half minutes before your world says goodbye to Mobians."

"Tails! Figure a way out of this!" I shouted to the fox kid, scurrying to the control panel.

"You got it, big-!" he said, but that's all I heard.

Mostly because Robotnik unloaded a rocket round into me. Thankfully, this one didn't nearly kill me.

"How does this feel, hedgehog?" he shouted, firing another.

This one I swerved away from. And you guessed: the rocket didn't do much to the Death Egg either.

"Sorry. I'm allergic to bullets." I said to the enraged doctor. "They ruin my complexion."

He fired another one, and I then flew around the chamber. Each rocket utterly missed, which was obviously expected. I rammed into Robotnik and wrestled him to the ground. He kicked me off, but I landed feet first on the floor. He and I exchanged stares, and we then began to throw punches at each other.

We'd end up blocking each others punches, and each time we did, I could feel us ascending from the ground. Our attacks became faster, all the way to the point where the naked eye couldn't register all the times we hit each other.

Robotnik ended up getting a real hit, but I had latched onto his shoulders before he hit me. Once he did, I flipped over his head and slammed my feet into his back. He flew into the wall once again.

"Tails, how's it comin'?" I asked him.

"Still working on it."

I growled when I heard that, but I stopped when I saw Robotnik rise from the wall with a new contraption: some sort of electric sword.

"What are you supposed to be? A jedi knight?"

Robotnik didn't care for jokes at the moment. He merely shot at me like a bullet, sword thrusted forward. This was gonna make fighting him much more difficult.

* * *

><p>I began to fly around the arena, dodging each of his swipes. It came to the point where we were fighting in one place, but instantly fighting in another. It was like we were fighting as we were teleporting. It was insane. Each swipe kept getting closer and closer to me. I think he got a cut or two my right arm, but it was merely a flesh wound.<p>

We kept flying by Tails as he did his work on the console. He wasn't hotwiring the buttons or anything like that. The only thing he would've liked to have hotwired was the switch for the closing walls, and it was now unusable or reworkable (if that's a word). Just our luck, huh?

My blood was pumping, for once not out of my leg. I was ready to end this, but I didn't know how. With that of his, Robotnik had joined the ranks of the most deadly super forms… and he doesn't even have one (if he did, would his moustache have turned yellow? Would his bald spot have a gold hue to it? Makes you wonder…)!

At one point, we hovered a few meters behind the console, about eight or nine feet above the floor. He was swinging his sword like crazy, and he almost hit me a few times. I grabbed hold of his sword hand, but he kicked down about two feet below him. He came down slashing. He no longer wanted to defeat me… he wanted to KILL me… and do what Fang could never do.

Well, as of now, I know why he couldn't: he was still partly organic in some places. He still had some Mobian parts, so he still had an idea of free speech and opinion, but his robot parts overpowered his ability to take action. But Robotnik wanted to turn everyone into full scale robots. I just couldn't stand the idea of no free will. A world with no freedom was a world without true progress. What was progress? Good fighting against evil for the common goal of peace. Robotnik never realized this, but peace can't be achieved by just making everyone "equal"; you have to come to an understanding so that both sides get something out of it. This fight… didn't exactly end that way.

Robotnik kept swinging his sword, but after one swing, I knocked back into the opposite wall. He recovered his focus and eyed me down.

"Give me your best shot!" I tempted him.

I could tell that behind his little sunglasses, his eyes narrowed in on me.

"Go ahead!" I continued. "Make my day!"

Robotnik took a breath in.

"This is the day that you die, Sonic the Hedgehog!" He sneered at me.

He readied his sword. I stared him down, with my eyes narrowed and my smirk no longer existent. Tails looked behind to me. That's when the doctor charged.

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!" He cried as he came at me, sword out before him.

I focused on his sword. Time slowed down for me as always. I figured that my best bet was Chaos Control. With this, I could teleport out of sticky situations such as this one. He rocketed towards me, sun glasses shining with electricity in the reflection. The sword was sparkling extra bright, and sparks were flying as it witnessed the velocity at which it was traveling. By harnessing the power of the Super Emeralds, I began the chant:

"CHAOS…"

Robotnik was then right in front of me, his sword only a second or two from touching me.

"…CONTROL!"

Just like the teleportation field, I warped from my normal state, and then back again. But once I returned, I was behind Robotnik, and I noticed something weird had happened.

His sword was so close to touching me before I finished my chant. But the Chaos Control has a field in which it picks up whatever objects are within its radius and teleports them with you. The sword, which was extremely close to me, ended up teleporting in front of me as it was before.

Luckily, I reacted quick enough to barrel roll over it, as it still traveled at the same velocity that Robotnik had carried it. It flew past me, and I realigned myself with "horizon" (the Death Egg, at this point, was now just orbiting around Mobius, like the Moon).

But then I heard a sound. Something like "shink", except much louder. And then I heard a grunt from behind me. I didn't like that sound. I turned around, realizing that I teleported behind Robotnik… with the sword… which still traveled at the same velocity as it did with Robotnik.

I turned to find Robotnik, still hovering in the air, but now with a sword thrusted through his back. The man who was trying to kill me… ended up being KILLED by ME. That's some screwed up stuff.

I came over and took the sword out of him. I somehow turned it off, and Robotnik turned off the hover and fell to the floor, falling back against the wall. And that's when I realized what I had done.

"No…" I said to myself.

I felt myself lose power, and I descended from Hyper Sonic to my normal state in a matter of seconds. I fell down in front of Robotnik, and I heard a twinkle from above. After recovering from the fall, I looked up. The Super Emeralds weren't there… and I had no clue why… but then I realized what I had done was probably one of the stupidest things I'd done in a long time.

You see, Hyper Sonic carries a lot of power. Maybe too much, because his power is too much for the Super Emeralds to handle. If I had gone Super Sonic, whether I was on Mobius or a spacecraft, I could've descended from that form with the Emeralds by my side. However, Hyper was different… and risky because of it. If I turned back to normal on Mobius, the Emeralds would teleport away, but they'd still be on Mobius. If I'm in space (which the Death Egg was now in), they would teleport away in different directions. Whether it be a new planet, a burning sun, or a devious black hole, I'd never see the Emeralds again. The last time I was Hyper, I turned back on Mobius. Now I really screwed up… big time.

When I remembered this, I realized how dumb I was, because I could've "Chaos Control"-ed out of the Death Egg with Tails. But then I remembered that light couldn't escape the Death Egg… and Hyper Sonic IS light. Damn, I screwed myself over on this one.

I was stressed. Incredibly stressed. I couldn't take even being in this place for one minute. Now I'd be here for eternity.

"One minute…" I heard from in front of me.

I looked up, my eyes throbbing from the overwhelming situation.

Robotnik, with his last few breaths, talked to me.

"You have… one minute… and a half… until… Mobius… is done for."

I started to cry. To tell you the truth, I was gonna miss him.

"I'm sorry… for everything."

"No need."

He coughed up some blood.

"Besides… you basically won the bet."

I remembered what he had said before in his base. I guess he was right.

"Say hi to my uncle for me."

"You got it… 'sonny boy'."

And with that, Robotnik had died. I rested my head against my arms, and I cried for a moment. I was then interrupted by Tails.

"Sonic! Hurry over here!"

I shot my head around, wiped away my tears, and began to run over to him. However, I slowed down and looked back at Robotnik. And that's when I realized it: if we had been friends, I could have known who he was before he was Robotnik. I could have known his real name. I turned away and ran over to the fox.

* * *

><p>"Tails, you find anything?"<p>

"Not yet. What happened to Robotnik?"

I didn't say anything. I only cringed as I closed my eyes. I tried to forget it, but it still roamed around in my head.

"No way…"

I nodded. He figured it out.

"Oh my god. How?"

"Chaos Control isn't the way to solve problems. Just putting that out there."

"And where are the Emeralds?"

"They went away."

"What?"

"Hyper Sonic does that in space. They're no longer with us. Besides, we couldn't get out of here anyway."

After some time of being stressed, Tails ended up staring at some knobs. I looked at his wrist communicator. It had been thirty seconds since Robotnik spoke to me.

"We have one minute 'till that thing fires! We have to think quickly!" I stated.

"We can reverse it." Tails suggested.

I stared at him. He kept looking at the knobs as we spoke.

"What?"

"The laser… we can reverse its polarity and effect so it doesn't fire on Mobius."

"That's…. that's perfect! Why didn't you do that before?"

He turned to me slowly.

"It won't fire on Mobius… but it will instead fire its energy into the Death Egg itself."

"It'll implode on itself?"

"And the Death Egg will be gone."

I was blown away by that.

"But we're still on here." Tails reestablished.

"I guess a hero needs to sacrifice everything to win…" I answered, "…including himself."

Tails stared at the knob. He seemed reluctant to turn it and reverse the cannon's fire. I could him in his eyes, fighting to see what the consequences would be.

But I decided… for the best of us.

"Turn it."

Tails expression of frustration then turned into this state of nervousness. He reached out to the knob, and turned it to the left. The laser reversed itself. On the console, a screen popped up, and it said that the laser had one more minute to fire in the new desired direction.

I felt myself growing weaker, groaning as I fell down against the console, my back resting at its lower wall.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed, as he kneeled down to help me.

It was no use. It hurt to move now. Anything Tails tried made me cringe. The sedative had worn off… and Hyper Sonic's few injuries had impacted me greatly. But Tails kept trying to help me up.

"Tails… remember… we're gonna die anyway. There's no use fighting."

It was hard for a fourteen-year old like Tails to accept death, but he had to have matured while I was out at times, because he decided to let himself down, too. He sat down against the console, his legs curled up against him. His arms lazily draped from his knees in-between his legs. I was doing the same.

"So…" he began, "…this is it."

"Yeah." I replied. "Remember our time on the first Egg Carrier?"

"Of course."

"Well, you were right… this ship IS losing altitude."

"Hey… that's my line."

We both laughed. It was the first time we laughed while being extremely relaxed.

Thirty seconds…

"Tails?"

"Yeah?"

We both sounded so somber.

"When I found you in the forest, I honestly…thought that… you'd be a burden on me. I thought that I'd have to take on responsibilities. Being eight years old at the time, I didn't like responsibility. But you… have taught me… so much…"

I could feel a tear going down my cheek as I pressed on. I think was shedding tears, too. And I started doing the gasping thing, too.

Fifteen seconds

"…I never thought that it'd be worth keeping you with me. And now I know that it was. And if I ever took away anything from your lectures on quantum physics… or anything, really…"

Eight seconds…

"…it's that you are the best lil' bro a guy could ever have."

Five seconds…

We were both shedding tears, and Tails, smiling underneath his personal waterfall, said,

"Same to you, big bro."

Four…

We both got on our knees, no matter how much it hurt for me, and hugged each other. We rested our heads on our shoulders.

Three…

"I love you, Sonic." Tails said in his kiddy voice.

Two…

"I love you too, Tails."

One…

We sat there and stayed together.

…BOOM!

The laser fired… and the Death Egg was beginning to fall apart. I could hear the laser continuing to fire, not letting up the force of the blast. Pieces of machinery were clanging against the floor as explosions occurred. I guess there was some machinery here, but there was probably more "emetitus" behind it. I heard this alarm going… as if we were to follow some sort of escape plan. Tails and I hugged each other tighter.

I opened my eyes to see a light in front of me. I could tell I was imagining it, because nothing else was reflecting the light from it. Inside it, I saw Sally… and Shadow. They both were standing there… smiling.

"See you soon." I heard them both say. The light vanished. And I was left wondering:

_Where was Uncle Chuck?_

I closed my eyes. I felt something big detach from the ceiling from right above us and I knew it was the end.

I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is how I died.

* * *

><p><strong>Please read the epilogue… when it's up.<strong>


	32. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A week had passed since then. The planet Mobius was aware of the valiant efforts of the blue hedgehog to save it on such a grand scale, but unaware of his sacrifice. At least, for the most part. There was that select group of people… a group of people that had watched from the safety of the floating island… that knew of his true fate, yet never wanted to admit it.

Worse yet, he died along with his self-proclaimed little brother, Miles "Tails" Prower. Only 15 years of age… it was a sad fate for someone with such brains… such talent. And to die with his brother… it could never have been worse for those people on the island.

And all she could do was watch. Watch as the world seemed to sleep… without a care in the world. Watch from her sacred realm in complete safety… and yet feel as though she had been threatened. She could see all the outcomes of this event… and she couldn't do much else. All she could do was watch.

As she viewed the works of that one blue hedgehog… through a mystical one-way portal that let her see anything she wanted to see… she could hear the slow and steady footsteps of another individual venture to her ears. She could only acknowledge the other's existence through a sigh, for the majority of her attention was occupied on the portal.

But the other individual, though he could tell she didn't want to speak, continued with what he intended to do.

"The world is getting better, from I can see." He stated, his deep and wise voice swarming into her mind. Though quite annoyed at the thought of conversation, the girl released a sigh once more and responded,

"Yes. It… has recovered."

Her words felt forced, and the wise man wasn't particularly pleased with this. He took a few more steps closer.

"Why so unsure, Tikal?" He inquired. "Is this not what the prophecy foretold? The hero vanquished the darkness. He won."

But Tikal didn't believe. She rarely ever did.

"No." She simply replied. "No, he didn't. They won. He lost."

The wise man was taken aback by her answer, but kept his composure.

"How can you say that when the planet is still there?" He asked frantically, though his calm voice tried to hide it.

"Did you not see what just happened only a few days ago, Master?" She quickly turned with her remark. "His friends live on! His friends are succeeding! But that hedgehog… he lost it all."

"Hedgehog? You mean Sonic?" The master searched for confirmation.

Tikal sulked slightly, but tried to hold herself up. She hated saying his name… she hated saying anyone's name whose fate was written amongst the stars. But she had to answer. So she thought a simple nod would do.

"There is no other hedgehog that meant this much to the world."

Though he didn't seem to present the idea with his furrowed brow and concerned eyes, his voice seemed to keep hold of its confidence.

"Well… I can tell you with the same amount of sincerity I have had time and time again. He didn't lose it all."

Tikal felt the weight of despair still sit profoundly on her shoulders, but what had just been said forced her eyes to slowly look towards her elder.

The master continued, "Look at the world. Look at what has been left."

Tikal simply turned back to the portal as the master continued, his points being displayed within the portal for her to see. First, she could see three individuals talking in an office of sorts. One was frantically flying around, another yelling at the flyer, and the last one, though he seemed secluded, displayed a sort of smile.

"He helped a team bond in the hardest of times. Though they were the most unlikely of friends, he helped make them more than that… he made them family."

The image quickly turned to a winged woman… one who was sitting down in front of a desk, with another decorated individual behind it. She sat proudly, as though she had accomplished a great feat.

"He helped an agent from years past see how important it was to serve her kingdom. She now looks to protect this land. And though she may not be a super powered hero, she can still make a difference because of his example."

Next came three other individuals, each resembling a sort of bird. They were exploring what seemed to be ancient ruins of some sort, gliding slowly through with their hover boards.

"And though they meant harm before, these people learned that life was not about the reward… it was about finding yourself, and finding the answers you needed for your whole life. They learned from that, to be yourself, you must first find yourself. And they learned that from him."

And soon, the image flipped to reveal another hedgehog, this one with a coat of pink and a red dress. She simply looked out over a balcony, which gave a grand view of the capital of her home island.

"He gave her the love that she sought for so many years. Yes, he's no longer with her… and yes, she is extremely depressed… but she has a glimmer of happiness in her life even now. She now knows that he loved her back. She has wanted that ever since they met. And she's happy that she finally got it, even it was for so little time."

And then the image finally soared over to the floating island, where a red echidna sat on the stairs of the monument to his ancestors, his eyes overlooking the vast ocean that seemed to go on forever.

"And this echidna… this echidna learned what his past truly meant. He learned what the world meant to him. Better yet, he learned what friends were for, and no one else but that one blue hedgehog could've taught him that. They were friends… best friends. And though the echidna never truly admits it… he knows that, deep down, he misses him."

The portal simply dropped, and Tikal turned to her master once more, the weight seeming to lift itself off of her being. Her eyes seemed thankful, yet not entirely trusting.

"Thank you, master." Tikal replied. "That means a lot for you to try and explain yourself. But… I fear it doesn't make up for the fact that he died… along with his brother. I fear that the ends don't necessarily justify the means."

And then she saw her master cringe. It almost seemed as if a word she had chosen had offended him in some way. And she feared for her master's sake. To be the master of someone you disagree… no, she didn't want that.

"What is it, master? Should I have held back my thoughts?" She inquired frantically, hoping that this hadn't damaged the apprenticeship.

The master simply took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"The ends… haven't come yet." He simply put in a solemn tone.

Tikal was mystified, and she asked for him to repeat himself.

"It… has not ended… not yet." He replied in a similar tone from last.

"What do you mean, master?"

His face gave off a hint of this fear of judgement… as if what he meant would make him lose Tikal's trust forever. But after a moment, he became more confident with what he wanted to say.

"Tikal… I have intervened." He began, and, seeing Tikal's confused expression, explained further. "I have broken a rule that no one else in this realm was ever meant to do. I have meddled in the world's affairs, and…"

He started to walk away, unable to go any further.

"Master!" Tikal called out, stopping him in his tracks. "What is it that you did?"

For once, her voice struck fear and terror in his heart. She demanded an answer, and by the gods, she would get one. He turned his withered face, struggling to continue further with the subject.

"I have had some conversations with people from beyond our universe. They too have a prophecy that has been fulfilled. But the stars have shown her of something far greater… and I have noticed it in our stars as well. There is something greater going on than anything we have ever imagined… greater than what our blue friend has witnessed."

His apprentice seemed in awe at the idea of this. People beyond our universe? Something far greater? What did he mean by all of it?

"Master, I… I do not understand." She could only reply.

"I have done many things in my time… but this has exceeded the rules of our realm. We agreed that a union is required to fulfill this…. other prophecy that is far greater than the last. And so… we agreed."

"But what does this have to do with him… with… Sonic?"

"Didn't you hear me, Tikal? What did I do that broke the rules?"

Tikal pondered for only a moment, and the answer didn't really seem like an answer to her.

"You… intervened?" She answered unsurely.

"Precisely. Now with what would I have intervened if a union was need between our universe and the other?"

And so the answer hit her like the force of the Death Egg explosion, of which the ferocity could be felt even from her realm. And a look of confusion, wonder, and fear overcame her.

"You… you mean that…?"

"The ends haven't come…" he repeated once more, "…not yet."

Tikal could only stare in shock as the master finished before heading out of the chamber.

"He has one thing left to do."

* * *

><p><strong>Sonic is not done yet.<strong>

**THE END**


	33. Defying Fate Bonus

**Defying Fate Bonus**

This "chapter" is not to impact the story or ending of the first book. It is merely to answer some asked/unasked questions. It will also address anything that you guys might later ask about the first book in general. Aside from that, let's begin.

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><p><strong>Why'd you call this series "Broken Dreams"?<strong>

Well, Sonic revisits and is introduced to classic stages that we, the fans, recognize and remember. A dream usually contains some of people we've met and places we've visited, but mixed with a different and (more than likely) unusual situation. That happened countless times throughout the novel as Sonic traversed he had been to. And even with places this Sonic hasn't been, such as Metal City, he witnessed events similar to what we remember.

The "broken" part describes what has happened to these places over time. They've changed and morphed into a different kind of environment. Metropolis Zone is more deadly; Ice Cap Zone (SA1 version) is more dangerous; Grand Metropolis is now a floating city hovering over deadly toxic gases. Sonic encounters these changed places like never before; therefore, he is witnessing these "broken dreams". Clever, huh?

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><p><strong>Why'd you call Book I "Defying Fate"?<strong>

I'm saving most of this for Book II, but Uncle Chuck disliked an idea of Robotnik's. The doc hired Fang to kill him, due to the fact that Chuck was "defying fate". Robotnik believed that by roboticizing Mobians, Mobius would achieve a higher recognition; he believed that synthetic life was the key to arriving at Mobius's fate. Uncle Chuck was getting in the way.

Sonic destroyed Robotnik's roboticizer, so Robotnik then decided that if he couldn't roboticize people anymore, he'd have to create robots himself. His new objective: obliterate all organic life, leaving only synthetics. Chuck believed in free will, which, as Robotnik believed, would disrupt the progress to Mobius's fate. Sonic learns this from Uncle Chuck, and then decided that, in order to win, he'd have to defy fate's plan to destroy Mobius and its life forms.

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><p><strong>What was your inspiration?<strong>

The idea came to me: Hey, what if Sonic had to take on past memories, but they were more deadly? Like, if Star Light Zone was falling apart, or if Scrap Brain's robots were even more menacing. Of course, I did consider those first two, but I couldn't fit them into the story. In fact, the story originally went like this: Star Light, Scrap Brain, Egg Carrier, no definitive ending. I was inspired by Mass Effect's endings (by the way, Extended Cut DLC is so worth it), and thought about giving the reader's a choice on the ending.

As I began writing the prologue, I decided that this book would really delve into Sonic's psyche, and push his limits and test his will. He'd find out more about himself as the story went on. Once we got to the end of Act II, I decided that I'd decide the ending. And I originally was gonna have Sonic settle down with Amy, the others would move, and Sonic could actually live in a home and "stop running" (Amy always brings that feeling to him). The final battle was actually going to take place in Green Hill; no Death Egg was in the rough draft. However, I thought about it a lot during that time when I stopped writing, and I made some corrections to the story, and you guys know the rest. But, yeah; that's how Broken Dreams became what it is.

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><p><strong>You like to kill people off kinda quickly, don't ya think?<strong>

Okay, I know where this is going. Yes, a number of characters are referred to as, found, and seen dead in this novel. It may seem like I want everyone to die, but most victories come at a price… and Sonic and Tails dying at the end was extremely sad. I kind of wish I didn't make Robotnik create an impenetrable Death Egg now. But anyways, it's not that I like killing off characters, but sometimes the results of it all turn out weird in my head if they live.

Besides, it makes sense for them to be dead. Shadow is supposed to be dead since the end of SA2. Sally isn't even in the games, so I had to have a reason as to why she didn't appear in the more modern games. Uncle Chuck… well, if you read the epilogue, you'll know the answer to that. Fang and Bark give Sonic this feeling of losing people no matter what, and Silver, while he is possibly my favorite Sonic character, deserved to give Sonic something to think about for later: the Sol dimension. Of course, Sonic is dead, so he might not get to do that now. However, Uncle Chuck is determined to find them… if they're still alive. That brings me to this next question.

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><p><strong>Music<strong>

There was never a question for this, but in order to imagine some of the sequences of the book, I listened to music. If you read Chapter XXIX's ending comments, I told you that I'd listen to epic music to get myself ready for the big fight. During that time, I heard a couple of tracks that I though were quite interesting and fit the book and some of its scenes.

For instance, I found this one song by Two Steps From Hell. It's called "Birth Of A Hero". You'll easily find it on YouTube. If your video has a picture of Link from zelda, then it's the one that I saw. In my opinion, this song is the main theme for the first book. It has the triumphant feel that Sonic has always had. It gives this feeling of an adventure that, no matter what the cost, will be worth it in the end. I still have the tune in my head. Check it out, and tell me if you agree that it's the theme of Defying Fate.

Another track I found was this song called "Away". It was kind of hard to find the first time. On YouTube, type in "away emotional piano", and it's the one with the siloheutte of a tree. When I heard this, it was around the time when I was thinking of having Sonic die at the end. That's when I decided that Tails would go up there with him. After about twenty seconds or so of the song, it gets to this beautiful melody that I envisioned Sonic and Tails hugging and crying to as the Death Egg blew up. It made me cry a little. It fit the mood of the ending perfectly. Tell me what you think.

Now, Sonic games usually have a rock song and an orchestral. Since DIM666 always said this would make a good game, I think it deserved to have an orchestrated theme and some rock n' roll. "Birth Of A Hero" embodies the fact that they will win no matter what. But the rock song for this book, called "The Catalyst" by Linkin Park, embodies some of the dark and amazing events that occur during the book. Listen for these lyrics in the song. In my opinion, these lyrics, although there are probably more, embody these events in the book:

"A loaded gun"=Fang the Sniper

"We can't be outrun"=Sonic's battle of speed and purpose

"Where oceans bleed into the sky"=The fight on the boat

"Lift me up"=The telekinesis

You know what I realized: The orchestrated theme is the destination, and the rock theme is the journey. Neat how that works.

* * *

><p><strong>Why a series, and where are you going with it?<strong>

I love cliffhangers. More importantly, I love twist endings. When a story is unpredictable, it makes the reader want to read more of it, and even beg for it… *cough* Sonicfangamer2 *cough*. Nah, I'm kidding. Anyways, to make the story a bit longer can let me explain a few details and questions left unanswered. Furthermore, it can provide additional detail and description in the world Sonic lives… or "lived", if you want to get technical. Therefore, I wanted to make Broken Dreams a series, so I could explore what this new Sonic universe has to offer in terms of mystery, suspense, and adventure. But I didn't want to just make it a series without everyone's opinion.

I posted the poll, and everyone (or at least the seven people that did) pitched in and told me their honest opinion. One person said no, two said yes, but four said that it depended on the direction it was headed. I don't want to go too deep, because I may spil some things. So I'll keep it brief.

I want to explore the past of Sonic and show just what created the universe of Broken Dreams. I also want to take control of Uncle Chuck, now a forty-eight year old man with a brown-haired moustache and eyebrows, searching for his nephew. Why is he still alive? Who'd Fang kill instead of Chuck? Is there hope that Sonic and Tails are somehow still alive? These questions and more will be answered in Book II.

* * *

><p>Special thanks go to the following individuals:<p>

**DIM666**- You have been there ever since the beginning. You regarded the book as a "green plant of creativity", and that you couldn't "wait to see the end of this encounter and the next" (In regards to the boat sequence). You're a real trooper. The fact that this, to you, was the best read you've ever had online means a lot to me. The story impacted you emotionally, and I was worried that it wouldn't imapct ANYONE emotionally. But more importantly, you gave most of the suggestions for this book. You gave us Grand Metropolis, Omega, Rouge, Omochao, and you gave lots of praise. You also mentioned Tikal, and I'm sorry she wasn't included in Book I. However, I have special plans for her. All in all, you stuck with me to the end, and for that, I thank you. You get a cookie.

**Sonicfangamer2**- Yes, the guy who grabbed my attention and told me to come back deserves his own category as well. I never heard from you much, but you sure were concerned for the story. He was upset that I had left it, and that it was "nearing the end". However, he also thought that this book was the best read online as well, and that he couldn't wait for Book II. Well, neither can I! Anyways, thank you for bringing this back to the forefront of my summer, and you also get a cookie... with sprinkles.

**The Great Archer**- He's a newer guy, and he hasn't read the whole thing. In fact, he probably won't be reading this until sometime after Book II premieres. But even then, he deserves some thanks, too. In his reviews, he talked about how I portrayed the Sonic characters and how good I was at doing so. I can't wait for more of his reviews, and I hope he catches up soon. You also get a cookie... with M&M's.

**Everyone who read this thing**- I'm gald that, even if you didn't review, you still read the book. I'll never know if you liked it or not, but at least I know it's not just 3-5 people reading and reviewing. About 170 people read the book itself yesterday (August 2nd, 2012). That's a lot of people! This book is getting attention, which is nice and all, but it would be even better if all those people reviewed it. Whatever the case, thank you for reading this book, for it was a great experience writing it as much as it hopefully was for you to read it.

* * *

><p>That's it for now. If you have any more questions about the story at all, please PM me. I will update this "chapter" afterwards with the question and its answer.<p>

Once again, thanks for reading the whole novel and sticking with it, even after the long wait. You guys loved this thing, and it deserved an ending. And I'm excited to start on Book II. I'll start it in about… 3 days. So around Monday, August 6th, 2012, I'll most likely start up the next book. For now, I'll create the book for the search results. I'll try to find a cover, and I'll create all the little gimmicks to make it look good for its premiere. I hope you guys are excited. Mysteries shall be solved once more.

Also, if any of guys are good artists or know a good artist, try to give me a cover for Book II if you can. I'll understand you if you can't. If you want to, e-mail me it when you're done at: sonicmaster642 ... I made it when I was 9. Don't judge me.

For the cover, I'd like to see Uncle Chuck, a youthful adult in his 40's, wandering in the woods, a small western pistol in hand. I want his back turned to us, but his face turned our way. I want his eyes looking slightly upward. I want some tall pine wood trees all around. Uncle Chuck should relatively close to us, enough for his whole body to fit in. I want this slightly eerie glow of a sun coming in from behind the trees. You don't have to put titles in or anything. I'll handle that. Don't make the cover too big or too small. Considering how big Book I's cover is, this cover, even from that size, should at least depict that Uncle is searching for something in the woods. I know it may sound daunting, but this is only if you know some good artists, or if you are a good artist. Either way, just let me know how long you or that other artist needs to create it, and I'll arrange the premiere date accordingly. Take your time, but I'll decide which one is best…

… Something tells me that not many covers are gonna come in. In fact, try to e-mail me with the cover if you can. Oh, and make sure it's made on a computer program.

Aside from that, please send in your questions if you have any, and I'll see you guys at Book II's premiere. Read ya later!

-ProtoRevelation


End file.
